Amanda Knox's Parents: Libel Charge Won't Stop Us

The parents of Amanda Knox, an American student convicted of murder in Italy, say they won't be deterred from seeking to prove their daughter's innocence after they were indicted for libel.

Curt Knox and Edda Mellas were indicted this week in Perugia for alleging that Italian police abused their daughter.

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The couple said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press that the charge was expected and that their "focus is unchanged" and "remains wholeheartedly with our daughter, her appeal, overturning her wrongful conviction, and bringing her home."

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In the Sunday Times interview published June 15, 2008, Curt Knox said, "Amanda was abused physically and verbally. She told us she was hit in the back of the head by a police officer with an open hand, at least twice. The police told her, 'If you ask for a lawyer, things will get worse for you' and 'If you don't give us some explanation for what happened, you're going to go to jail for a very long time.'"

Knox was convicted in 2009 of murdering Meredith Kercher, her roommate in Perugia, and sentenced to 26 years. She denies wrongdoing and her appeals trial is under way.