Amanda Knox's Ex Sollecito Appeals For Cash

By Nick Pisa, Sky Reporter

Amanda Knox's former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito has launched a desperate £323,000 ($500,000) online appeal for donations to fund his retrial.

Computer studies graduate Sollecito, 29, said he was hard up and needed the cash for ''legal expenses'', but added anything raised above the target he would ''donate to a research foundation''.

His request came just hours after it emerged his request to settle in Switzerland had been revoked and that his fresh trial for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher would begin in the autumn.

Sollecito was initially convicted in 2009 along with Knox of the killing and sexual assault of Meredith, who was found dead in the bedroom of the house she shared in the Italian hilltop town of Perugia with his American then-girlfriend.

Sollecito at his appeal hearing in 2011

He was given a 25-year jail term while Knox was given 26 years, but in 2011 the verdicts were overturned and they were released on appeal.

But three months ago, Italy's highest court dramatically ruled that there should be a fresh trial for both of them.

Italy's Court of Cassation ordered the retrial

This is expected to start in October in Florence and will involve witnesses being recalled and more forensic tests carried out after the Supreme Court ruled that the previous trial had ignored certain elements of evidence.

In an appeal posted on his Facebook page, Sollecito wrote: ''Well Guys, the problem for me now is pretty tough. I'm deeply concerned not just for the issue I'm facing and most of you already know about, but also because I don't have resources any more to fight this injustice.

''I badly need to be able to hire experts, when needed, or pay my attorney fees, documents fees, and so on when the new appeal will start. I hope not to bother you, but I need your collaboration to face this ordeal. Otherwise I don't want to forced to give up just for financial reason.

Sollecito in 2011 with his lawyer after hearing he was to be freed

''I hope you will understand. I'm just asking if you, buddies, know how to build up a non-profit raising funds foundation. Big Hugs, Raffaele Sollecito''

Sollecito is thought to have been paid $1m for American TV news interviews and an advance on his book Honour Bound: My Journey To Hell And Back With Amanda Knox, which was published last year.

However a sizeable proportion of that was swallowed up in legal fees to his team of lawyers including Italy's high-flying Giulia Bongiorno, who is said to have the highest fees in the country.

On his Facebook page, Sollecito invites potential donors to help him out via a page called Gofundme.com, and on it he adds: "This new trial will take another six or seven years with witnesses, transfers, documents, experts and everything being discussed all over again.

Knox reactes as she hears she is to be freed

"I'll use and certify all the expenses paid with this funds. If in the future, I will not need this funds anymore for legal expenses, I'll donate the rest of the funds to a research foundation. Please help."

On Thursday, his urologist father Francesco said: "This is an initiative of Raffaele's but it has my full support. I'm no longer in a position to fund a trial which could last another two years.

"Witnesses will have to be reheard and there is a good chance that new forensic tests will have to be carried out and as such experts and consultants will have to be paid.

"We are both very grateful for the high attention that has been paid to this case by his lawyers Giulia Buongiorno and Luca Maori."

As of Friday morning, 31 people had donated, with the largest amount being $1,000 from an anonymous donor and the total standing at more than $5,000 - at that pace he will have made his target by the time the trial starts.

The site was also subject to fierce criticism with several people posting comments expressing their outrage one woman Silvia Pavan wrote in Italian: "Why don't you ask Amanda Knox for money? Or better still why don't you kill yourself ???."

Knox is said to have been paid $4m for her book, Waiting To Be Heard: A Memoir.

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Amanda Knox's Ex Sollecito Appeals For Cash

Dengan url

http://jidatlancip.blogspot.com/2013/06/amanda-knoxs-ex-sollecito-appeals-for.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Amanda Knox's Ex Sollecito Appeals For Cash

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Amanda Knox's Ex Sollecito Appeals For Cash

sebagai sumbernya