A judge who handed out a 30-year prison sentence to Ivory Coast national Rudy Guede for his part in the murder of British student Meredith Kercher said Wednesday he believed all three suspects in the case were involved in the crime.
Paolo Micheli said he had found Guede guilty in a fast-track trial and asked for Kercher's American flatmate Amanda Knox and Knox's Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito to proceed to full trial because of ''clear and logical evidence''.
Micheli said the evidence showed that all three suspects were present at the scene of the crime, that Kercher was attacked by more than one person, and that the murder occurred in a sexual context.
''On the basis of these definite facts, logic must come in to confront the aspects that are still uncertain, like that linked to the meeting between the three suspects,'' he added.
Micheli dismissed as ''fantasy'' the hypothesis that Kercher's murder on the night of November 1 was related to Halloween, the Italian feast day of the dead (November 2), or Sollecito's penchant for Japanese manga comics.
Micheli on Tuesday found 21-year-old Guede guilty of murder and sexual violence, a crime punishable by life imprisonment but for which Guede received a reduced sentence because he had opted for a fast-track trial without a jury.
Guede also escaped a life sentence because he was absolved of stealing 300 euros and credit cards from Kercher.
Knox, 21, and Sollecito, 24, who are charged with theft as well as murder, may face life sentences if the jury finds them guilty in the full trial set to begin on December 4.
Guede and his lawyers said Wednesday that they will appeal the 30-year sentence.
In Italy's three-tier justice system, lawyers have recourse to the appeals court and then to the highest court of appeal, the Cassation Court.
