The father of an Italian woman who died this month after a right-to-die battle that split the country has been placed under investigation for murder.

Beppino Englaro, 67, is one of 14 people probed in connection with his daughter's death at a clinic in the northern city of Udine after 17 years in a vegetative state.

The others are the anaesthetist who led her medical team, Amato De Monte, and 12 members of a right-to-die association, 'For Eluana'.

Englaro, 38, had been in a permanent vegetative state following a car accident at the age of 21 in 1992.

Udine Chief Prosecutor Antonio Niancardi said the investigation was ''a due act,'' a phrase used by Italian judicial officials to say they are forced to respond to suits even if there no evidence of wrongdoing.

The 13-page suit, one of 50 sent in by pro-life associations around Italy, was filed by a group calling itself the Truth and Life Committee.

The head of the group, Mario Palmaro, said ''it is a very detailed report in which we implicate Beppino Englaro, the doctor and nurses, and the heads of the La Quiete clinic''.

The Englaro family's lawyer, Giuseppe Campeis, said his clients had been expecting to be placed under investigation.

He said the preliminary hearing would ''enable us to defend ourselves''.

''It was something we'd been expecting, only perhaps it would have been better for it to arrive on the day of her death''.

''It doesn't change anything for us. Now we'll have the chance to clear everything up in cross-examination''.

Eluana Englaro died on February 9, four days after doctors removed her feeding tube in accordance with a landmark court ruling based on what her father said were her wishes.

She died of cardio-respiratory failure sooner than expected. Preliminary autopsy results showed no signs of foul play and toxicology results are expected shortly.

Hailed by libertarians, the court ruling was forcefully opposed by the Catholic Church and the government, which tried to block it on several occasions.

At the time of Englaro's death, the cabinet was trying to hurry an emergency law banning the removal of feeding tubes through parliament.

At an emotional press conference on live TV, Premier Silvio Berlusconi vowed to save Englaro's life.

A law on living wills sparked by the Englaro case has started its way through parliament and the government hopes it will be passed by the summer.

There is currently no legislation governing living wills in Italy.

A living-will law passed by a conservative-dominated parliament would be extremely restrictive, observers say, although it could be open to charges of breaching the Italian Constitution.

Berlusconi has said the law will ''forbid any sort of euthanasia''.

It would also prevent doctors from removing feeding tubes from people ''unable to take care of themselves'', he said.