ITALY: Murder victim forgotten at Amanda Knox trial, family says

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

REPORTING FROM LONDON -- The family of Meredith Kercher said Monday they wanted to be sure that the memory of the young murder victim was not forgotten in the media circus surrounding the appeals trial of convicted killer Amanda Knox.

“Meredith has been hugely forgotten in all of this,” Stephanie Kercher told reporters in the Italian town of Perugia. “It’s very difficult to ... keep her memory alive in all of this.”

Photos: The Amanda Knox appeal

Kercher said her sister, who was 21 when she was slain in November 2007, “didn’t deserve” such a terrible death. The British exchange student was found with her throat slashed and with about 40 wounds on her body.

“What everyone needs to remember is ... the brutality of what actually happened that night and everything that Meredith must’ve felt that night, everything she must’ve went through -– the fear and the terror and not knowing why. She didn’t deserve that,” Kercher said. “She’d been here two months, and she loved this place. It’s a beautiful city.”

Stephanie Kercher, her brother Lyle and their mother, Arline, spoke hours before a verdict was expected to be announced in an appeal lodged by Knox, who is from Seattle, and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, who were convicted of Meredith’s murder in 2009. Knox, 24, and Kercher were exchange students in Perugia and shared an apartment.

Earlier Monday, Knox made an emotional plea for her freedom, declaring in court that she was completely innocent in the killing of her roommate in what authorities say was a sex game gone wrong.

Knox told jurors that she was not the violent, promiscuous killer portrayed by the prosecution and that her trust in the Italian police had been betrayed.

“I was manipulated. I am not what they say,” she said. “I have not killed; I have not raped. ... I wasn’t present at the crime.”

Stephanie Kercher said Knox was entitled to appeal and that she hoped jurors would make a decision based on the information presented on them and not on the media hype.

“That’s how the Italian justice system works,” Kercher said. “Everyone is entitled to their fair trial.”

ALSO:

ITALY: Amanda Knox makes final appeal

ISRAEL: Mosque set ablaze in upper Galilee

SOUTH AFRICA: Tornadoes kill two, leave thousands homeless

-- Henry Chu