ROME (AP) — The only person convicted in the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher has been freed after serving most of his 16-year prison sentence.
Italian news agencies LaPresse and ANSA quoted attorney Fabrizio Ballarini as saying Rudy Guede's planned Jan. 4 release had been moved up a few weeks by a judge and he was freed on Tuesday.
In an email to the Associated Press, Ballarini said Guede will continue working in the library at the Viterbo-based Center for Criminology Studies.
The murder in the university city of Perugia gained international notoriety after Kercher's American roommate Amanda Knox and Knox's then-boyfriend were placed under suspicion.
Both were initially convicted but Italy's highest court threw out the convictions in 2015 after a series of flip-flop decisions.
Guede has denied killing Kercher.
