Florence, Italy – Amanda Knox was back on trial for defamation Wednesday after falsely accusing a Congolese man of murdering her roommate while the two were exchange students in Italy. Knox was convicted of the murder before being acquitted in a case that drew national attention.

Amanda, a 20-year-old student with limited Italian who had just arrived in Perugia, faced a long night of questioning in the death of Meredith Kercher. She eventually accused the owner of the pub where she worked part-time of killing the 21-year-old British student.

Italy Opens New Slander Trial Against Amanda Knox. She Was Exonerated 9 Years Ago In Friend’s Murder

In 2016, the European Court of Human Rights found that her rights were infringed since she was interrogated without the presence of a lawyer or an official translator.

In November, Italy’s highest Cassation Court overturned the defamation conviction — Knox’s lone remaining guilty decision — nine years after the same court overturned convictions for Kercher’s murder against Amanda and her Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito.

That conviction, which went through many trials and appeals, has remained a legal stain on her, particularly in Italy, while she seeks a new life in the United States, lobbying for judicial reform.

Another man was found guilty in Kercher’s 2007 murder.

Amanda, now 36, did not present at Wednesday’s court in Florence and is being tried in absentia. She stays in the United States, where she works for social justice and is working on several media projects, including a podcast and a limited series on her case for Hulu.

Amanda’s accusation against bar owner Patrick Lumumba surfaced in police-typed statements that she signed, but Italy’s highest court declared them inadmissible in the new trial.

She recanted the claim in a four-page handwritten note in English dated the following afternoon, which is the only evidence the court can consider.

Italy Opens New Slander Trial Against Amanda Knox. She Was Exonerated 9 Years Ago In Friend’s Murder

However, Lumumba’s lawyer, Carlo Pacelli, contended that the banned documents should be readmitted as references because Knox mentioned them several times in her written statement. Lumumba, who is participating in the case in accordance with Italian law, did not attend the trial.

After nearly four hours of arguments, the court recessed and will reconvene on June 5 for rebuttals and a ruling. Eight lay jurors and two qualified judges are conducting the trial.

Despite Knox’s attempts to retract the claim, Lumumba was apprehended for questioning and detained for nearly two weeks.

Knox was sentenced to three years in prison for defamation, which she served for nearly four years until being judged not guilty by a Perugia appeals court. After six years of conflicting judgments, Italy’s highest court formally exonerated Knox of the murder in 2015.

Italy Opens New Slander Trial Against Amanda Knox. She Was Exonerated 9 Years Ago In Friend’s Murder

Kercher’s body was discovered with her throat cut on November 2, 2007, in her locked bedroom in the apartment she shared with Knox and two other roommates.

Rudy Guede, whose DNA and footprints were discovered at the scene, was convicted of murder and sentenced to 16 years in prison. He was released after spending 13 years and is now being investigated for allegedly physically and sexually assaulting a previous girlfriend since his release.

SOURCE – (AP)

Crowds gathered in Germany overnight to celebrate the legalization of cannabis, which begins on Monday.

There was music and dancing at the Brandenburg Gate in central Berlin as many waved placards and blew smoke into the air.

Germans Celebrate As Recreational Cannabis Use Becomes Legal

One guy was seen cycling through the crowd, carrying a big cannabis leaf artwork on a trailer behind their bike, while another ceremoniously rolled a joint in front of news cameras.

Following a contentious national discussion about the benefits and drawbacks of making cannabis more accessible, Germany’s lower house of parliament decided last month to legalize it for restricted recreational use.

Karl Lauterbach, the health minister, praised the move in an X post on Monday.

“Weed use was already present yesterday, but it is increasing. “Now it’s out of the taboo zone,” he wrote.

“This is better for real addiction help, prevention for children and young people and for combating the black market, for which there will soon be an alternative.”

The new restrictions allow adults to carry tiny amounts for personal use, but the substance remains illegal for people under 18.

Germans Celebrate As Recreational Cannabis Use Becomes Legal

Under new regulations proposed by Germany’s ruling coalition party, adults can cultivate up to three plants for private use. Beginning April 1, the limit is 50g at home and 25g in public.

From July 1, cannabis will be offered in approved not-for-profit clubs with no more than 500 members, all of whom must be adults. Only club members would be able to consume their output.

The German government stated that cannabis would remain illegal for kids and severely restricted for young adults and that consuming the substance near schools and playgrounds would be prohibited.

Germany becomes the third country in Europe to legalize cannabis for recreational use, following Malta and Luxembourg, and removes it from the official list of illegal narcotics.

Germans Celebrate As Recreational Cannabis Use Becomes Legal

The Netherlands prohibits drug possession, but some towns allow them to be sold at coffee shops as part of its so-called toleration policy.

Other countries, such as Australia and the United States, have differing local restrictions.

SOURCE – (CNN)

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that France and its partners could have prevented the 1994 Rwanda genocide but lacked the will to do so in a powerful statement ahead of the African country’s 30th anniversary of the killing, which killed over 800,000 people.

The Presidents office announced in a statement that the French president would post a video on social media on Sunday when Rwanda commemorates the genocide.

President Macron Says France And Its Allies ‘Could Have Stopped’ The 1994 Rwanda Genocide

In the film, Macron claims that “France, which could have stopped the genocide with its Western and African allies, lacked the will to do so.”

During a visit to Central Africa in 2021, Macron acknowledged France’s “responsibility” in the genocide that killed over 800,000 people, primarily ethnic Tutsis and Hutus who attempted to protect them.

He did not apologize, but Rwandan President Paul Kagame hinted that a new chapter had begun in France-Rwanda relations following a series of French initiatives to heal ties between the two countries.

The Rwandan government has long charged France with “enabling” the genocide.

Since being elected in 2017, Macron has commissioned an investigation into France’s role before and during the genocide, as well as vowed to make the country’s archives from this period available to the public.

President Macron Says France And Its Allies ‘Could Have Stopped’ The 1994 Rwanda Genocide

Macron will highlight in Sunday’s video that when the genocide began, “the international community had the means to know and to take actions” based on the knowledge of genocides disclosed by survivors of the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust, according to his office.

Macron will underline that “France stands by Rwanda and the Rwandan people, in memory of the one million children, women, and men martyred because they were born Tutsi,” according to his office.

According to Macron’s office, Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné will represent France at the genocide remembrance on Sunday in Kigali. The French president is unable to attend due to World War II commemorations in France.

President Macron Says France And Its Allies ‘Could Have Stopped’ The 1994 Rwanda Genocide

In recent years, France has strengthened its efforts to apprehend and prosecute genocide suspects.

A Rwandan doctor was sentenced to 24 years in prison by a Paris court in December, marking the sixth case related to the Rwandan genocide to come before a French court in the last decade.

SOURCE – (AP)