Arrested Man Denies Meredith Kercher Murder

A man wanted over the murder of British university student Meredith Kercher today appeared in a German court protesting his innocence.

Rudy Hermann Guede, 20, was brought before a judge, who remanded him in custody pending proceedings seeking his extradition to Italy, said the prosecutor in Koblenz, Karl-Rudolf Winkler. Guede would not fight the extradition, Winkler said.

"He explained that he is innocent and had nothing to do with the crime," Winkler said, adding that the judge noted his statement and would pass it on to Italian authorities.

Italian police had issued an international warrant for Guede's arrest and he was likely to be sent to Italy in about a week, Winkler said.

Guede, who has dual Ivory Coast and Italian nationality, was stopped for traveling on a train without a ticket and arrested yesterday in the western German city of Mainz.

Guede is a suspect in the sexual assault and fatal stabbing of 21-year-old Kercher in the house she shared with University of Washington student Amanda Knox in Perugia.

Knox and her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 23, remain in custody suspected of sexually assaulting and murdering Kercher, a Leeds University exchange student from Coulsdon, Surrey. Both have denied involvement in her death.

A post-mortem examination found that Kercher died from a stab wound to her neck. She was found on November 2 in her blood-spattered bedroom.

Italian detectives sought Guede after finding a bloody fingerprint in the apartment in Perugia where Kercher was murdered. The print did not match the three suspects they had in custody.

Italian police traced Guede to Germany through a friend who made internet contact with him on Monday night and chatted with him for hours, Italian investigators said.