Amanda Knox's parents sued by Italian police over abuse claims

The parents of Amanda Knox, the US student convicted of murdering British student Meredith Kercher in Perugia, are to stand trial for alleging that Italian police abused their daughter, a lawyer and media reports said.

Curt Knox and Edda Mellas were indicted yesterday for libel, said the Italian news agency ANSA. Lawyer Luciano Ghirga confirmed the indictment and said the trial was set for 4 July.

The charge stems from an interview they gave to a British Sunday newspaper in which the father alleged that police had physically and verbally abused his daughter during questioning after Meredith Kercher's death, before Knox was arrested.

Police have denied harming Knox. Knox and ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were convicted in 2009 of sexually assaulting and murdering Ms Kercher, 21, in the apartment she shared with Knox in the central Italian city of Perugia. Ms Kercher was stabbed to death on the night of 1 November, 2007.

Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison; Sollecito 25 years. Both deny guilt and their appeals trial is under way. Another man, Rudy Guede, was also convicted in connection with the killing.