Amanda Knox returns to Italy after 8 years off (2019) 2:44
(CNN) -
Rudy Guede, the only person still in prison for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher in Italy, has been released from prison, his lawyer, Fabrizio Ballarini, told CNN on Tuesday.
Kercher's body was found in the apartment she shared with her roommate, Amanda Knox, in Perugia, Italy, in November 2007. The 21-year-old had had her throat slit.
Knox was arrested along with her then boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito.
They and Guede were indicted the following summer.
All three were convicted, but Knox and Sollecito's convictions were overturned in 2015.
Amanda Knox returns to Italy after 8 years off 2:44
Prosecutors argued that Kercher had been killed after refusing to participate in a sex game under the influence of drugs played by Knox, Sollecito and Guede.
Guede, a native of the Ivory Coast, requested a separate fast-track trial, fearing that Knox and Sollecito had formed a pact against him.
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He was convicted of murder in October 2008 and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
His sentence was reduced to 16 years on appeal in December 2009.
Knox and Sollecito, who insisted they were out of the apartment the night Kercher was killed, were convicted of murder in December 2009. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison and Sollecito to 25.
The verdicts marked the beginning of a long legal saga for Knox and Sollecito.
CNN's Lauren Said-Moorhouse contributed to this report.