Italy’s highest court on Thursday confirmed a slander conviction against U.S. defendant Amanda Knox for accusing an innocent man of murdering her British flatmate 17 years ago in a sensational case that polarized trial watchers on both sides of the Atlantic.

An American who was convicted and later acquitted of the 2007 murder of her British housemate, Ms. Knox was found guilty of falsely accusing someone else of the crime.

The 37-year-old was fighting to clear her name after being convicted of falsely accusing a Congolese bar owner of murdering her British roommate in 2007.