Amanda Knox Faces Trial In Italy For Slander

Amanda Knox faces yet another legal challenge in Italy as her trial on charges of slandering police gets under way.

The charge stems from Knox's testimony that Italian police coerced her to falsely accuse a Congolese bar owner of the murder of Meredith Kercher.

Knox and her former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were cleared in March by Italy's highest court of the British student's brutal killing .

Patrick Lumumba was held in custody in 2007 after Knox told police she had ''covered her ears as he killed'' Ms Kercher in the student house the girls shared.

He was cleared after two weeks when a university professor provided a watertight alibi.

Knox was convicted of slandering Mr Lumumba and ordered to pay him €22,000 ($25,000) in 2011.

The American is not expected to attend the police slander trial, which opened on Tuesday. Prosecutors will not begin calling on witnesses until September.

Knox's attorney, Carlo Dalla Vedova, said on Wednesday he is "not worried" about the case.