Knox once declared she would never “willingly” go back to Italy, after a retrial in 2014 saw her convicted for a second time of the murder of Kercher, a British exchange student with whom she was living at the time.
However, the 31-year-old American has announced that she will speak at a criminal justice conference taking place in the northern Italian city of Modena from June 13 to 15.
“The Italy Innocence Project didn’t yet exist when I was wrongly convicted in Perugia,” Knox wrote on Twitter, referring to an NGO that assists victims of miscarriages of justice.
“I’m honored to accept their invitation to speak to the Italian people at this historic event and return to Italy for the first time.”
Knox will take part in a panel event entitled ‘Trial by Media’, speaking alongside Martina Cagossi, program manager of the Italy Innocence Project, Andrea Mascherin, president of Italy’s bar association and Vinicio Nardo, president of Milan’s bar association.
Knox and her then boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were accused of murdering 21-year-old Kercher in Perugia on November 1, 2007.
Kercher’s body was found in the apartment she shared with Knox, and her throat had been slashed.
Knox was arrested in 2007 after she told police she “vaguely remembered” another man breaking into her home and murdering her housemate.
Police used this as evidence to arrest bar owner Patrick Lumumba in connection with the murder, but he was later released without charge.
Knox was also found guilty by an Italian court of making a malicious accusation, by allegedly suggesting Lumumba was guilty of the murder.
She spent almost four years in prison before her convictions for murder and sexual assault were overturned and she was released and sent back to the US.
Local man Rudy Guede was found guilty of Kercher’s murder in October 2008, after his fingerprints were found at the crime scene.
Guede is currently serving a 30-year sentence.
In January, The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday ordered Italy to pay Knox around AU$30,000 in damages and expenses for failing to provide her access to a lawyer and a translator during questioning in 2007.
