Italy prosecutors seek life term in Briton's murder

Prosecutors asked an Italian judge to sentence a suspect in the murder of a British exchange student in Italy to life in jail and order the other two suspects to stand trial, legal sources said yesterday.

The three are being held over the murder of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher, whose semi-naked body was found on November 2, 2007, in her apartment in the university town of Perugia with her throat slit, in a case that has drawn widespread media attention.

Prosecutors are seeking life imprisonment for Rudy Guede, a 22-year-old from the Ivory Coast and accuse him of sexually assaulting Kercher just before her death.

Guede has been granted a fast-track procedure, under which the judge can convict or acquit him and pass sentence in the pre-trial phase. Using the procedure means Guede will receive a lesser sentence if convicted.

The other two suspects - whom prosecutors want ordered to stand trial - are the victim's American flatmate Amanda Knox and Knox's Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito.

Prosecutors say Guede and Sollecito held down Kercher while Knox dealt the fatal blow with a knife, the victim's family lawyer Francesco Maresca said.

Guede also sexually assaulted the British student while holding her down, the prosecutors charge.

All three suspects have denied the charges.

At the start of yesterday's hearing behind closed doors, a weeping Knox rejected the accusations against her.

"Meredith was my friend and I did not have any motive to kill her," she said, according to legal sources.