Knox’s parents to stand trial accused of libel

THE parents of Amanda Knox, the American convicted of murdering British student Meredith Kercher in Italy, have been ordered to stand trial for claiming that police abused their daughter.

Curt Knox and Edda Mellas were charged yesterday in Perugia for libel. Lawyer Luciano Ghirga confirmed the indictment and said trial was set for July 4. The couple did not attend the hearing.

The charge stems from an interview they gave to the Sunday Times a few years ago in which the father alleged that police had physically and verbally abused his daughter during questioning after Kercher’s 2007 murder but before Knox was arrested.

Police have denied harming Knox.

The preliminary hearing judge charged that “in particular, they said, contrary to the truth, that Amanda had not been assisted by an interpreter, that she hadn’t been given food or water, that she had been abused both physically and verbally” and finally “that she had been slapped on the back of the head and threatened”, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.

The libel case will be a rematch of lawyers from the murder case. Curt Knox and Edda Mellas are being represented by Luciano Ghirga and Maria Del Grosso, who are also defending Amanda Knox in the murder appeal.

Five members of the Perugia police force, who are civil plaintiffs in the case, are represented by Francesco Maresca, who is also representing the Kercher family in the Knox murder trial.