Europe's top human rights court said Thursday Italy failed to provide adequate legal representation for Amanda Knox, an American student acquitted in 2015 of the gruesome killing of her British housemate.
It ordered the Italian authorities to pay 18,400 euros ($20,900) in damages and legal costs.
Knox accused the Italian police of threats and violence during questioning over the 2007 murder, when she was denied both a lawyer and a professional interpreter.
The American exchange student served four years in prison after her initial conviction for participating in the killing of Meredith Kercher, before being released on appeal and then definitively acquitted.
Kercher's body was found on November 2, 2007, in the apartment she and Knox shared in Perugia, where they were both foreign exchange students.
The case at the European Court of Human Rights concerned Knox's claim about ill-treatment during overnight questioning by police on November 6.
The court said she claimed she was slapped on the head twice, and forced to speak despite being exhausted and unable to show discernment or willpower.
Knox also said she was not assisted by an independent and professional interpreter, but only a police employee who acted instead as a "mediator" who encouraged her to "imagine hypothetical scenarios".
During the questioning she accused her former manager at a pub of murdering Kercher, who was later released without charge, prompting prosecutors to accuse Knox of making a "malicious accusation."
The court said the Italian authorities had improperly denied access to a lawyer and failed to assess the conduct of the police interpreter, which had "compromised the fairness of the proceedings as a whole."
But it said it had found no evidence of inhuman or degrading treatment during her questioning.
Europe’s top human rights court said Thursday Italy failed to provide adequate legal representation for Amanda Knox, an American student acquitted in 2015 of the gruesome killing of her British housemate.
It ordered the Italian authorities to pay 18,400 euros ($20,900) in damages and legal costs.
Knox accused the Italian police of threats and violence during questioning over the 2007 murder, when she was denied both a lawyer and a professional interpreter.
The American exchange student served four years in prison after her initial conviction for participating in the killing of Meredith Kercher, before being released on appeal and then definitively acquitted.
Kercher’s body was found on November 2, 2007, in the apartment she and Knox shared in Perugia, where they were both foreign exchange students.
The case at the European Court of Human Rights concerned Knox’s claim about ill-treatment during overnight questioning by police on November 6.
The court said she claimed she was slapped on the head twice, and forced to speak despite being exhausted and unable to show discernment or willpower.
Knox also said she was not assisted by an independent and professional interpreter, but only a police employee who acted instead as a “mediator” who encouraged her to “imagine hypothetical scenarios”.
During the questioning she accused her former manager at a pub of murdering Kercher, who was later released without charge, prompting prosecutors to accuse Knox of making a “malicious accusation.”
The court said the Italian authorities had improperly denied access to a lawyer and failed to assess the conduct of the police interpreter, which had “compromised the fairness of the proceedings as a whole.”
But it said it had found no evidence of inhuman or degrading treatment during her questioning.
