American student Amanda Knox composes herself before making a tearful plea to an Italian court to be acquitted of murdering her British roommate.<br/> Saying she was paying with her life for a crime she did not commit, Knox said her faith in the police had been betrayed.<br/> 'I lost a friend in the most brutal and inexplicable way possible," she says, adding that she had faced 'unfair, suggestive and baseless accusations".<br/> Knox who barely spoke Italian when she was arrested four years ago addressed the court fluently in the language.<br/> In an emotional plea, she said she was not what people thought she was.<br/> "The perversions, the violence, contempt for life and people are not part of me," she says. "I didn't kill, I didn't rape, I didn't steal. I wasn't there, I wasn't present at the crime."<br/> Earlier, her ex-boyfriend and co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito also addressed the court.<br/> He said he had never hurt anybody in his life and had always expected everything to be 'cleared up' over time.<br/> The young Italian also dramatically removed a bracelet on his wrist which said 'Free Amanda and Raffaele', saying it was now the right time to take it off.<br/> Knox and Sollecito were sentenced to 26 and 25 years respectively for the murder of Meredith Kercher during a drug-fuelled sexual assault.<br/> A verdict for the appeal is expected later on Monday.<br/> Sunita Rappai,Reuters
