Now Amanda Knox's Parents Also Face Trial in Italy

ROME Feb. 15, 2011— -- The parents of Amanda Knox were ordered by an Italian judge today to stand trial for libel for saying in a newspaper interview that their daughter had been mistreated by homicide police during a night-long interrogation.

Knox is appealing her murder conviction for the 2007 stabbing death of roommate Meredith Kercher. Part of her defense is that she was abused by police who grilled her for hours without an attorney present. She also claims the police cuffed her on the back of the head, denied her food and water, and yelled at her.

During that overnight interrogation, Knox told police that she had a "vision" that she was in the cottage when Kercher was killed and heard her scream, placing herself at the scene of the crime. Although Knox tried to retract the statement the next morning, it was used as evidence against her in her trial which resulted in a 26 year prison term.

Knox, who is from Seattle, has since been charged with slander for saying the police was abusive.

Her parents, who repeated their daughter's explanation in an interview with Sunday Times of London in 2009, have now also been ordered tried for libel.

The trial date for the parents, Edda Mellas and Curt Knox, was set for July 4 in Perugia, Italy.

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.

Libel is a criminal charge in Italy that carries a sentence of six months to three years, as well as a fine. If convicted the parents would be unlikely to serve any time since they have no previous judicial record.

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.