Related: Knoxing Around Italy
"Italy court: Knox struck mortal blow in killing" by Colleen Barry | Associated Press April 30, 2014
MILAN — The Italian appeals court that reinstated the conviction against Amanda Knox in her roommate’s 2007 murder said in a lengthy reasoning made public Tuesday that Knox delivered the fatal blow, and overwhelming physical evidence precluded a need to determine a clear motive.
Presiding Judge Alessandro Nencini concluded in a 337-page document that the evidence ‘‘leads to the upholding of the criminal responsibility’’ against Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher in a hillside villa occupied by students in the university town of Perugia.
The judge said the nature of Kercher’s wounds inflicted by two knives and the absence of defensive wounds indicated multiple aggressors were to blame, including Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivorian man convicted separately and serving a 16-year sentence.
Nencini presided over the panel that reinstated the guilty verdicts against Knox and Sollecito in January, handing Knox a 28½-year sentence including the additional conviction on a slander charge for wrongly accusing a Congolese bar owner. Sollecito faces 25 years.
The release of the court’s reasoning opens the verdict to an appeal to the supreme Court of Cassation. If it confirms the convictions, a long extradition fight for Knox is expected.
First we wouldn't send back the CIA agents, and now her?
She has been in the United States since 2011, when her earlier conviction was overturned. Knox has vowed to fight the conviction, saying she would ‘‘never go willingly’’ to Italy to face her judicial fate.
Sollecito’s lawyer, Giulia Bongiorno, tore apart the reasoning, saying ‘‘from the motive, to weapon, to the DNA, it is a string of errors.’’
‘‘I can’t wait until they fix a day to hear us for the appeal, because honestly the verdict is so full of errors, illogical elements, and contradictions, that I strongly believe it will be overturned,’’ Bongiorno said.
The judge said relations between Knox and Kercher were strained, despite Knox’s attempts to downplay tensions during the trial, and that the two had argued over housekeeping and visitors.
He also cited as credible Guede’s statements that the British student had accused Knox that evening of stealing rent money from her room, though none of the defendants was convicted of the theft....
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Yeah, some get off easier than others in Italy.
"Italian diplomat’s kin: abuse complaint a mistake" Associated Press April 30, 2014
MANILA — The family of an Italian ambassador detained in the Philippines on human trafficking and child abuse complaints has denied the accusations, calling the case ‘‘a big mistake.’’
The parents and brother of Daniele Bosio, Italy’s suspended ambassador to Turkmenistan, said Tuesday that Bosio has a long history of helping disadvantaged children and did not abuse the three underage boys found with him at a resort in Laguna province south of Manila.
Oh, no.
Philippine police arrested the vacationing diplomat on April 5 after being alerted by child rights activists who saw him at the resort with the boys, ages 9 to 12.
A police statement said the diplomat told investigators during questioning that the boys ‘‘were street children that I had brought from Manila’’ and that they had informed their parents about the trip. The statement said the boys told police that the diplomat brought them to his house where he ‘‘personally bathed and scrubbed their naked bodies and afterwards gave them money and food.’’
Another sick elitist sex thing.
The complaints were filed before a prosecutor, who will determine whether there is enough evidence for formal charges to be brought against the 46-year-old diplomat.
Bosio is to appear before the prosecutor Wednesday. His family and friends also plan to attend.
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Time to get out of Italy:
"Italy cracks down on alleged violent secessionists" Associated Press April 03, 2014
MILAN — Italian special operations forces arrested 24 suspected secessionists Wednesday who authorities said were planning a violent independence campaign for the wealthy northeastern Veneto region.
Police said the group had built an armored vehicle that they intended to deploy in St. Mark’s Square in Venice — reminiscent of a 7½-hour takeover of the piazza’s famed bell tower by secessionists in 1997. TV footage showed the vehicle was a bulldozer with firearms that had yet to be mounted.
Italian media reported the secessionists intended to deploy the vehicle on the eve of European parliamentary elections in May.
The crackdown comes days after politicians in Veneto started formal proceedings toward independence, despite constitutional prohibitions.
Veneto’s regional governor, Luca Zaia, promoted an online survey that purportedly showed overwhelming support for secession. But the Corriere del Veneto paper this week reported that most of those 2.6 million votes backing secession were generated by computers abroad.
One survey organizer, Gianluca Busato, called the crackdown a ‘‘ridiculous’’ overreaction by the state.
‘‘We are peaceful democrats,’’ Busato said on Sky TG24. ‘‘We have the people on our side.’’
The Veneto region, centered on Venice, helped transform Italy into an industrial power in the 1960s and 1970s. The small- and medium-sized, family-run businesses that were the source of the region’s success have been hit particularly hard by the economic crisis. The secessionist sentiment is rooted in anger that the north’s money is appropriated by Rome in taxes.
The arrested reportedly include two people involved in the 1997 St. Mark’s takeover.
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Why would they want to secede from Italy?
"Italy saving more migrants at sea" Associated Press March 21, 2014
ROME — Italian authorities say they have rescued more than 4,000 would-be migrants at sea over the past four days as the war in Syria and instability in Libya spawn new waves of refugees.
And they can thank AmeriKa for its covert and overt wars.
The numbers of migrants reaching Italian shores generally rises this time of year as warm weather and calm seas make the Mediterranean Sea crossing from North Africa easier. But the UN refugee agency said the numbers so far in 2014 represent a 300 percent increase over the same period in 2013.
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The spike is primarily due to renewed instability in Libya, where refugees from Syria and across Africa gather, awaiting a chance to leave on smuggling boats, said Carlotta Sami, spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency in Italy.
Scroll through Libya to see that we have already lost.
Because of the increase in violence in Libya, migrants have pushed harder to leave the country sooner, she said.
‘‘They cannot stay safe in Libya,’’ she said, adding that the recent arrivals in Sicily included two Syrian women in their 80s. ‘‘Everybody is trying to escape Syria.’’
Italy beefed up its air and sea surveillance of the sea smuggling route after a boat capsized last October off the southern island of Lampedusa, killing more than 360 people....
Just migrating across Europe.
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At least you are left with a pretty picture of the situation in Italy.
