ROME (AP) — Lawyers for a man from the Ivory Coast who is serving 16 years in an Italian prison for the 2007 murder of a British student are seeking a new trial.

Rudy Hermann Guede was convicted of the slaying of Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy, where she was sharing an apartment with U.S. student Amanda Knox. Guede has denied killing Kercher.

Italian media said the lawyers filed the request Tuesday, contending their client is innocent. They also noted Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, who steadfastly proclaimed innocence, were definitely acquitted last year by Italy's highest criminal court.

Guede's conviction ruled he committed homicide "acting with others," but he's the only one to be definitively convicted of the slaying.

It's unclear if a new trial could be granted since he exhausted his appeals.