ROME, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A member of Italy's Parliament says he wants a photo of American Amanda Knox, convicted of killing her roommate, removed from a wall in a Rome police station.
Rocco Girlanda support's Knox's bid to overturn her conviction but he complained that only her photograph -- and not those of two men also convicted of the killing -- was posted on a wall alongside pictures of criminals such as jailed Cosa Nostra boss Bernardo Provenzano.
Girlanda, a member of Premier Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom Party, said the mug shot fueled American arguments that Knox is the victim of a miscarriage of justice, Italy's ANSA news agency reported.
Knox was convicted of killing British exchange student Meredith Kercher in Perugia in 2007. She was sentenced to 26 years in prison.
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Her former boyfriend, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, was sentenced to 25 years and an Ivory Coast man, Rudy Guede, was sentenced to 16 years in the killing.
"These YouTube photos (of the mug shot) have ended up on U.S. screens, fueling accusations against our country that we singled out an American citizen among the three Perugia defendants," said Girlanda, who heads an Italian-American friendship association.
Knox, a former Washington state resident, and Sollecito are appealing their sentences. Guede has exhausted his appeals.
Girlanda said under Italian law Knox can't be considered guilty until the Supreme Court of Cassation has sentenced her in her second automatic appeal.
"Knox is still awaiting a definitive sentence and yet she has been depicted alongside the worst Mafia bosses, criminals who have been sentenced to several life sentences," Girlanda said.
