Meredith Kercher retrial opens in Italy

The retrial over the 2007 killing of British exchange student Meredith Kercher opened on Monday before the Appeal Court of Florence. The new chapter of this long legal case began with the two suspects absent, the American Amanda Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito. Both defendants have decided not to appear in court and they will be tried 'in absentia'. "We are sure about Amanda's and Raffaele's guilt and of their presence at the scene of crime" the Kercher family's lawyer, Francesco Maresca, declared at the opening of the hearing. He didn't want to elaborate on the absence of the two suspects. "I have no comment, the Italian law allows them to do so," the lawyer said. The defendants' lawyers have asked for more expert surveys and Knox's lawyer, Carlo Dalla Vedova, has also raised doubt of the trial being unconstitutional, foreseeing the risk of her defendant "being under trial forever". The 'Meredith trial', as it became known in Italy, has drawn a lot of media-coverage from all over the world, and from American and British outlets especially. Knox, 26 and Sollecito, 29, were convicted in 2009 of murdering Meredith Kercher, who was found dead in November 2007 in the university town of Perugia. A third suspect, Rudy Guede from Ivory Coast, pled guilty and was sentenced to 16 years in a separate trial. Meredith, a 21-year old British student from Leeds University, was found in her flat stabbed to death and with her throat slit. The crime happened during the night of November 1st. Meredith had three flatmates and one of them was Amanda Knox. The first grade jury convicted Knox and Sollecito - partners at the time of the murder - to 26 and 25 years of jail respectively. An Appeal Court then overturned their conviction in 2011 because of "lack of evidence". After their acquittals Amanda Knox returned to her hometown, Seattle, and Raffaele Sollecito moved to Dominican Republic. Both have always said they are innocent. In March 2013, however, the Italian Supreme Court overruled the acquittals and ordered a new appeal, saying that the jury that acquitted Knox and Sollecito "didn't consider all the evidences". The highest Court pointed out that important DNA evidences were dismissed by the appeal court and that discrepancies in testimonies have also to be explained. Essentially the Supreme Court supported the initial argument of the prosecutors: Meredith was victim of a twisted sex game that went out of control. Knox, who spent four years behind bars in Italy, had repeatedly announced that she had no intention to come back for the retrial. She said to media she was scared to return to Italy, where she had been wrongly imprisoned and called the court's claims "a bombardment of falsehood and fantasy". If the new appeal will confirm her conviction, however, Italy is expected to ask for her extradition. The ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito might attend the next hearings starting from late October, the father said. This fresh trial could last for months. This November 1st will mark the 6th anniversary of Meredith's murder.