SISTER PERUGIA? I DON’T THINK SO

The August 26, 2013, edition of Perugia Today printed a scathing article trying to shame Amanda Knox into returning to Italy for the next level of appeal.  Since the release of the June 2013 Italian Supreme Court’s motivation requesting that the case be sent back to the appeal level for review, Amanda has been the topic of brutal and skewed accusations.

In this article Amanda is threatened with being the reason why Perugia will have to stop being a Sister City to Seattle, a relationship that is now 20 years old and was formally renewed in June 2013.  Evidentially some locals are upset that Seattle refrained from naming a downtown park after Perugia while Amanda was unjustly incarcerated in prison and her character was being assassinated daily by Perugia Today and other local media outlets.   Oh gosh, I wonder WHY Seattle did that?

The citizens of the Greater Seattle Area are naturally angry that our innocent native daughter has been called a sex fiend, druggy, witch, devil and, most recently, a nymphomaniac.  That provocative article by Perugia Today has since been pulled, but it stated in no uncertain terms that:

“The Italian judges are the greatest comic show ever seen: first they let the druggy American and her little boyfriend, Harry Potter, escape; two bad people who are free thanks only to the families who have paid and corrupted more than half of the magistrate.  And now they come out with the trial, the real one (the ISC appeal), except that they have let go of the nymphomaniac and the little daddy’s boy, who should both be spanked and not allowed to write books.”

Ironically “more than half of the magistrate” was corrupt before Amanda set foot in Perugia and that is the heart of the matter.

Never mind that the same paper witnessed the atrocity of innocent people being railroaded by the very same judiciary whom they called “the greatest comic show” and that they gleefully derided Amanda and Raffaele every chance they got, as seen above.

One would think that Perugia Today is the prosecution’s personal mouthpiece by the way they have viciously clung to the preposterous theory of a Sex Game.  By the way they have ignored the hard scientific fact that Amanda’s and Raffaele’s DNA is not present at the murder scene.  By the way that they have swept under the rug the only person whose DNA IS IN Meredith Kercher’s bedroom, Rudy Guede, a local thief.

It’s clear that Perugia Today caters to the whims of Giuliano Mignini, the instigator of the Satanic Sex Game, and his Clan.  Once the Public Minister of Umbria’s capitol, he managed the crime scene in 2007 and led prosecution in 2009 during the First Instance trial.  Providing evidence of the rampant fraud that plagues Italy, Mignini has since been promoted to Perugia’s Prosecutor General and even as the case is returned to the appeal level, his fingers are still in the pie, so to speak, and many who live in the capitol believe his sexual fantasy.

Either that or they are too afraid to say openly what a sadistic pervert he is.

In the months since the release of the Supreme Court’s motivation, Perugia Today has taken every opportunity to continue with Mignini’s character assassination of Amanda.  Along with “druggie” and “nymphomaniac” the paper also complained that the city was suffering from “The Amanda Curse.”  More than once declaring that the scholarship set up in Meredith’s name was an antidote to it.  More that once whining how put upon Perugia is to have to deal with the judicial debacle, while ignoring that one of their own powerful officials created the circumstances.

The paper was supportive of the callous and barbaric behavior of the Kercher’s own lawyer, Fransexco Maresca, when he showed pictures of Meredith’s naked and bloodied body in open court during the 2011 appeal.  Such an act is against courtroom protocol in all first world nations and while the prosecution followed the rules during the two, year-long, trials, they somehow “accidentally” forgot to clear the public from the court before showing the brutally graphic pictures.

Three Times in Three Days.

And Perugia Today is now supporting Maresca as he barks that Amanda should “come back out of respect for the Court. This attitude of being a victim of justice has become intolerable.” 

As if Amanda shouldn’t feel that she is a victim of injustice after she spent four years in prison for a crime she did not commit, had her character assassinated globally and has endured Maresca throwing  her murdered friend in her face at every opportunity simply to try and  make her feel guilty. 

Yes, it’s true; the murder victim is being used by her own family’s lawyer as a Shame Shield to make the public feel guilty if they don’t do exactly everything the prosecution wants.

Everyone, Defense, Judges, Jury and Public, is expected to nod sagely in agreement as the Kercher’s own lawyer stormed out of the courtroom every time Amanda spoke, like a petulant child who doesn’t want to hear an opinion that differs from his own.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but I was under the assumption that a lawyer’s job is to be present in court and hear all sides, not putting their fingers in their ears and crying, “La-la-la-la, I can’t hear you!”

Everyone was expected to sit there while the prosecution practiced delay tactics, withheld evidence, interrupted the defendants, and generally disrupted the court at every opportunity.  During the First Instance trial it was like watching Lord of the Flies, shockingly unprofessional and the judge sat right there and let it happen.  Now the prosecutors are up to their old tricks and they want to get their grubby hands on Amanda and Raffaele.

The simple truth is that neither are required to appear in court for this phase and, besides, both are terribly afraid of going back because they are acutely aware that Maresca and his ilk will try some underhanded trick to put them back in prison.

Now Perugia Today, following Maresca’s lead, has exclaimed dramatically that if Amanda doesn’t return to Italy for the trial then Perugia will have to stop being a Sister City with Seattle.

Well La Dee Dah!

When Amanda was first arrested, falsely accused and unjustly incarcerated by Perugia’s judicial system, did the Perugian business community band together to protest the travesty that befell their Sister City’s Native Daughter?

No.

Did they engage the business leaders in their Sister City of Seattle to help the Knox family as they bravely faced the Italian legal system alone?

No.

Did business leaders offer any support to the Knox family while they spent four years flying back and forth to Perugia?

Sorta.

They gladly accepted the family’s money for groceries, rent, gas, various and sundry items.  And let’s not forget the millions of the Knox’s hard earned dollars lining the Perugian coffers from two trials; much of that came directly from Seattle.  Let’s not forget that the proverbial 30 Pieces of Silver taken from the city treasury was used to pay Giuliano Mignini, the man who betrayed Amanda and Raffaele.  In actuality he received much more than what today’s market will pay for 30 pieces of silver.  Perugia became a giant sucking sound as it charged the beleaguered family for everything, including translating costs of the diary that they stole from Amanda and gave to the tabloid media.

Let’s also not forget the money spent by the hundreds of staffers from the dozens of media outlets who attended every trial, they also spent money for groceries, rent, gas, various and sundry items.  For years.

It seems to me that Perugia did not suffer from what the paper is calling “The Amanda Curse,” at least financially.  Rather, the so-called curse was a windfall for the city’s business leaders; they should be “thanking” Seattle for her support.   It seems to me that the poor widdle Perugian officials and business leaders are only suffering from egg on the face for supporting the ridiculous debacle that has befallen these innocent people.  It seems to me that Perugia Today’s childish and cruel diatribes are causing the innocent Perugians who actually helped these Americans further embarrassment.

That piled upon the embarrassment of a severely botched murder investigation, a kangaroo court and corrupt public officials.

Were I an honest business person in Perugia, I would flee rather than become a participant in the perverted sexual fantasies of a dirty old man, the sordid imaginings of what the young students who attend Perugia’s universities are doing under the covers.  Were I an American student considering studying abroad, I would avoid Perugia like the plague, the next American will not be as lucky as the first two.

The next American will spend decades in prison in Italy.

The whole sideshow is a bit like having a really mean person at your house who declares, “If I don’t get my way, I’m leaving!”  Well, I hope the door not only hits these bullies in the butt, but knocks them into a fresh steamy pile of dog poo.

Perugia acts like the sister whose husband has sexually, physically and verbally abused her sister’s daughter, her own niece.  And the merciless tramp did not lift a finger to help, rather she defended the brute.

In the real world families often face situations where the relationship with a mercurial sibling has become toxic and unsafe, at some point you have to cut ties so that your family will be able to function in a healthy manner.  As sad as it is, many families have done just that thing to preserve the sanctity of the home.

I think we are at that point.

Seattle is an economic powerhouse; it is not a provincial hilltop town in the country.  Seattle makes excellent chocolate, her local vinters are on par with Italy’s best, she has a thriving jazz scene, and she does not need a Sister like Perugia to make life better for her citizens.

Seattle, despite all the hard work of her business leaders to hold this mess together, is better off cutting ties with such a place.  She has spent far too long being supportive of a Sister that has repeatedly shown nothing but lip curling contempt toward her innocent native daughter.  The question now is should Seattle continue a relationship with the corrupt officials who are hell bent on putting the completely innocent Amanda and her friend, Raffaele, back in prison?

I say no.

It’s time for the Seattle business community to show the Knox family that their precious daughter and their hard-earned dollars mean more than the condescending rubbish coming from Perugia.  It’s time to cut this sister loose so that we no longer need fear offending a city that has long since kicked us to the curb.

It seems to me that the only curse that Perugia suffers from is the malignant evil whose tentacles are wound into every facet of that city. A shadow enveloping that Italian hilltop. A blight manifested in the egregious drug problems that permeates the daily life there.  And who really wants their children in a city where the innocent are plucked from the street to spend years in prison to further the agenda of a greedy and selfish man.

It is time to severe ties with Perugia before The Mignini Curse spreads any further.