A preliminary hearings judge on Friday ruled that suspects in the brutal murder here of a 22-year old British exchange student must remain in custody.
Meredith Kercher was found November 2 with her throat slashed in the house she shared here with three other girls.
Police later arrested Kercher's 20-year-old American roommate Amanda Marie Knox, the roommate's 24-year-old Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and Democratic Republic of Congo national Diya 'Patrick' Lumumba, 38, on suspicion of murder.
Lumumba, a long-time Perugia resident and pub operator, was released for lack of evidence last week.
His release coincided with the arrest of a fourth suspect in Germany, 21-year-old Ivory Coast national Rudy Hermann Guede, whose DNA had been found at the scene of the crime and on the victim.
A German court is expected to decide on his extradition next week.
Knox and Sollecito appeared separately Friday before Judge Claudia Matteini and both proclaimed their innocence to all charges.
The American claimed she had been in her boyfriend's home the night of the murder and has not been in her apartment the night of the murder.
She apologised for involving Lumumba in one of the several versions of the murder night she gave police.
Although she spoke for only a minute to the court, Knox's lawyers said they were convinced the arguments they presented proved there was no clear evidence to justify her incarceration.
Sollecito, on the other hand, spoke for almost half an hour and his lawyers said they had rebutted the prosecution's case point-by-point and were confident their client would be released.
Sollecito is scheduled to be questioned again by investigators next Thursday.
Police presented a strong case in court against Knox, Solletico and Guede which was backed up by forensic evidence.
They argued that Knox and Solletico had tried to mislead the investigations by giving several conflicting and contradictory versions of their whereabouts at the time of the murder and afterwards.
Investigators also said that Knox and Sollecito tried to throughly clean the scene of the crime, to the point that only one of Knox's fingerprints had been found in an apartment where she had lived for months.
Two empty bottles of bleach were later found in Sollecito's apartment and his maid told police that it was not the same brand she always used there.
Police also found a large kitchen knife which had the victim's DNA on the blade and Knox's DNA on the handle.
Knox's blood was also found in the bathroom she shared with the victim which police suspect was left from a nosebleed after the apartment was cleaned, indicating she was at the scene of the crime between the time the apartment was cleaned and the body was discovered.
An examination of Sollecito's computer revealed that it had not been used just before and after the estimated time of death, from 9pm to 2am on the night between November 1 and 2, thus contradicting the student's claim that he had been working alone on his thesis that night.
Police also have a footprint left in Kercher's blood which matched the size and make of sneakers owned by Sollecito.
The evidence against Guede places him both with Kercher and at the time of her murder. This included his bloody fingerprint which was found on Kercher's pillow and the fact that his DNA matched DNA in the toilet at the scene of the crime and in a vaginal swab of the victim.
The former semiprofessional basketball player reportedly told police he saw the murderer, who he claimed was white, and had scuffled with him before running away.
The Ivory Coast national also claimed that he had tried to help Kercher but had then panicked and fled the scene when he realised she was dead.
Investigators are still trying to determine the motive for Kercher's murder and working on hypotheses related to sexual activities and theft.
