The reason for this was that there was absolutely no reliable evidence of the guilt of Knox or Sollecito.
In an earlier post, you expressed doubt about the translation of the short-form verdict that appears after the "For These Reasons" (abbreviated as P. Q. M. in the original Italian).
Here is the text in Italian:
Visto l'art. 620 lett. a) cod.proc.pen., annulla senza rinvio la sentenza impugnata in ordine al reato di cui al capo b) della rubrica per essere Il reato estinto per prescrizione;
visti gli artt. 620 lett. I) e 530, comma 2 cod. proc. pen.; esclusa l'aggravante di cui all'art. 61 n, 2 cod. pen., in relazione al delitto di calunnia, annulla senza rinvio la sentenza impugnata in ordine ai reati di cui ai capi a), d) ed e) della rubrica per non avere i ricorrenti commesso il fatto.
Ridetermina la pena inflitta alla ricorrente Amanda Marie Knox per il delitto di calunnia in anni tre di reclusione.
You can check this text against the original, which appears on Amanda Knox's blog, and bears the stamps of the CSC authorities and signatures of Marasca and Bruno.
Here is a translation to English, courtesty of Google Translate, with the relevant part highlighted:
In view of art. 620 letter. a) cod.proc.pen., canceled without the court judgment concerning the offense referred to in Chapter b) The crime of the address book to be extinguished by prescription;
having regard to Articles. 620 letter. I) and 530, paragraph 2 cod. proc. pen .; Excluding the aggravating circumstance of art. 61 n, 2 cod. pen., in connection with the crime of slander, cancels without referring the judgment under appeal in regard to the offenses referred to in Chapters a), d) and e) of section for the applicants have not committed the crime.
Restates the sentence imposed on the applicant Amanda Marie Knox for the crime of libel in three years' imprisonment.
Note that Google translates "non avere i ricorrenti commesso il fatto" as:
"the applicants have not committed the crime".
