Amanda Knox, who is accused of slander against the Italian police, appeared at a preliminary hearing in Perugia on Tuesday. Knox had claimed that she was hit twice by a woman police officer during initial questioning over the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher and then bullied into making a false confession.
At the slander hearing Knox’s lawyers objected to Judge Claudia Matteini as she had been involved in the preliminary hearing for the murder proceedings. An appeal court will decide on June 17th whether Judge Matteini can preside at the new preliminary hearing, now scheduled for October.
If Knox is found guilty of the slander charges, she will face another six years in prison in addition to the twenty-six years she is serving for murder. Knox’s parents are also to be indicted for slander as they repeated their daughters’ claims to the media.
Much media attention in Italy has focused on Knox’s new, short haircut and her ltalian lawyer said that her client had wanted to have her hair cropped for some time but had feared it would detract attention from the real issues of the murder trial.
Knox is said to be suffering from depression but she is using a computer in prison to continue her studies and is reading the works of Alberto Moravia.
