Post date: Jan 31, 2014 12:52:48 PM
Raffaele Sollecito, Italian re-convicted along with former girlfriend Amanda Knox of murdering Briton Meredith Kercher, is picked up by police near Austrian border and warned he cannot leave Italy.
FLORENCE, ITALY (JANUARY 30, 2014) (REUTERS) - Italian police found Raffaele Sollecito close to the Austrian border, authorities said on Friday (January 31), a day after a court upheld his conviction with U.S. student Amanda Knox of the 2007 murder of Briton Meredith Kercher.
Hours before the verdict was announced, Sollecito left a morning hearing in Florence in central Italy and began travelling north. His lawyer told reporters he would not wait to hear the verdict due to stress.Police say they found the 29-year-old between the northern towns of Udine andTarvisio, close to Italy's border with Austria, which he had reached by Thursday (January 30) afternoon.
Authorities confiscated his passport and instructed him not to leave Italy following the late evening verdict which sentenced him to 25 years in jail.
The sentence is not yet definitive, leaving Sollecito to move freely within Italy as he would begin serving time only if and when the verdict is confirmed by Italy's highest court.
"I think at face value one would be very, very suspicious of what he was doing out there," said Sky reporter Nick Pisa as journalists gathered for a news conference by the Kercher family in Florence a day after the verdict.
"I guess on the outside it looks like they're in a strange position where they are convicted but on the other hand seemingly free on a day-to-day basis," said Meredith's brother, Kyle Kercher.
Knox is in her U.S. hometown of Seattle and would have to be extradited to serve a sentence. Her sentence of 28 years and six months must also be confirmed byItaly's high court to become definitive.