Amanda Knox's Parents Ordered to Stand Trial

Edda Mellas and Curt Knox accused of libel
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 15, 2011 11:46 AM CST
Amanda Knox's Parents Ordered to Stand Trial
In this Nov. 28, 2009 file photo, Edda Mellas, left, and Curt Knox, the parents of Amanda Knox, an American student convicted of murder in Italy, arrive at a hearing in Perugia's court, Italy.   (AP Photo/Stefano Medici, file)

As Amanda Knox appeals her murder conviction, her parents must now also go on trial. An Italian judge today ordered Edda Mellas and Curt Knox to stand trial for libel, after they repeated in a newspaper interview Knox's claims that she was mistreated by police during her night-long interrogation after the 2007 murder of roommate Meredith Kercher. Knox was charged with slander after saying police denied her an attorney, cuffed her on the back of her head, yelled at her, and wouldn't give her food or water.

Her parents repeated the allegations of physical and verbal abuse to the Sunday Times of London in 2009, and must now stand trial in Italy on July 4, ABC News reports. Knox's defense lawyers will also represent her parents, and the Kercher family's lawyer will represent the members of the police force who are civil plaintiffs in the case. Click for more on Knox's murder trial.
(More Amanda Knox stories.)

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