ASTRO-CHAT Raffaele Sollecito

Raffaele Sollecito born on March 26, 1984, is involved in famous criminal case along with Amanda Knox, for the past six years and is still ongoing. He was initially convicted of homicide by an Italian court and later cleared of murder charges on appeal. The appeal was dismissed by the Supreme Court in March 2013 and a new trial is set for next year.

The son of wealthy parents, his father is a urologist in Southern Italy; his defense team painted him as a shy and introverted youth who had become mesmerized by Knox's seductive tactics. Prosecutors at the original trial painted a darker side; their story was that the young man was fascinated from a young age by knives and swords and the macabre.

Sollecito was a computer science student in Perugia, Italy when his girlfriend's  roommate, Meredith Kercher from the UK, was murdered on November 1, 2007. As the dramatic investigation unfolded, Sollecito was accused of being responsible along with Amanda Knox, and another man, Rudy Hermann Guede.

Video and pictures taken of him and Amanda Knox kissing outside of the house soon after Meredith's body was found and police were investigating, quickly spread over the news.  Their seemingly inappropriate behavior began speculation that they may be involved in the murder.

Amanda's parents hired a PR firm to combat the negative publicity and it is suspected they have been running a campaign for years by leaving numerous positive comments about Amanda and Raffaele on various news websites and blogs to make it appear as if everyone in America supports them and thinks they are completely innocent.  The opinion in Italy and elsewhere has been largely against Amanda and Raffaele's innocence which has set up a contentious debate between U.S. and European commentators.

Their trial began January 16, 2009 and was covered extensively by US, British and Italian media for the nearly full year that it took to obtain a verdict. The jury handed down its guilty verdict on December 4, 2009, and Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years in prison for murder and sexual assault.

 A year later he was granted the right to an appeal. Hearings and reviews of the case began in November 2010. The case captured media and public attention in both the US, Italy and elsewhere. On October 3, 2011, he and Amanda had their charges appealed. The court upheld a charge of slander for Knox had initially accused her former boss of the murder but the three year sentence for that charge was deemed already served. Sollecito and Knox were immediately released from custody and able to return home.

In 2013, the Italian Supreme Court rejected the appeal due to a number of mistakes made by the judge.  A new trial will be set for next year, no date given yet.

Amanda and Raffaele both published books in the past year for multi-million dollar advances along with income generated from subsequent interviews.

"Speaking on Monday for ITV’s Daybreak, the 29-year-old said that Meredith was “the first victim of these hideous facts, but we are other victims”.

When asked if he could understand other people perceiving him and Amanda as making money from Meredith’s death, he said: 'I have to make money to defend myself. I cannot get a real job, and even if I could get a real job, there’s not enough money there.'”

Raffele moved to Lugano, Switzerland where he invested $100,000; into his own foundation which was set up to help people involved in high profile criminal cases.  After his appeal was dismissed, his Swiss neighbors were uncomfortable with a suspected murderer in their midst and revoked his residence permit, forcing him to leave Switzerland.

  Raffaele has come under fire for asking for more money ($500,000) on his gofundme page set up to take donations to support his cause.  He is said to be staying with relatives on the east coast of the U.S. 

He has been very outspoken in the press since the appeal was dismissed.  In an interview recently he responded to the question:

"What would you like people to understand about you and Amanda?
We are very well-educated young people and all these charges don’t make sense at all. There’s no reason for us to have committed such a crime. And any theory of it … it’s just a movie fantasy. We are innocent, honest, and reliable. I want us to be free and exonerated as we deserve. To have the possibility to move forward and bring our lives to a better future, doing what we choose."  http://blog.seattlepi.com/dempsey/2013/07/02/raffaele-sollecito-my-real-meeting-with-amanda-knox/