Amanda Knox to return to Italy for the first time since acquittal in slaying of roommate Meredith Kercher

Amanda Knox is returning to the place she first became a tabloid sensation to deliver a talk on the role the media plays in judicial errors.

Knox was invited to speak at a conference organized by the Criminal Chamber and Italy Innocence Project on June 14 and 15 in Modena, marking the first time she will be on Italian soil since she was imprisoned – and ultimately released – for the 2007 murder and sexual assault of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher.

The 21-year-old student was found naked under a blanket with her throat slit on the floor of her bedroom in the hilltop University town of Perugia. Authorities were quick to suspect Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, in the slaying and the sensational case quickly garnered worldwide attention.

The couple were initially convicted but the ruling was later annulled in 2015 by the country’s highest court after years of legal limbo. Judges in their final decision cited flaws in the investigation and pointed to a lack of evidence, including the absence of “biological traces” connecting Knox and Sollecito to the crime.

A conviction against Knox for falsely accusing a Congolese bar owner in the case, however, was upheld.

Knox in a Tweet announcing her upcoming travel plans lauded the Italy Innocence Project, established to help people convicted of crimes they did not commit.

“The Italy Innocence Project didn’t yet exist when I was wrongly convicted in Perugia,” Know tweeted on Tuesday. “I’m honored to accept their invitation to speak to the Italian people at this historic event and return to Italy for the first time.”

The 31-year-old Seattle native is slated to speak at an event on “trial by media” on the final day of the conference.

“We wanted to invite her because we believe that she is an icon of trial by mass media,” event organizer Guido Sola told the ANSA news agency.

An Ivorian immigrant is currently serving a 16-year sentence for Kercher’s murder.

With News Wire Services