The family of a woman who died last month after a right-to-die battle that split the country is suing for damages from people who said the death was murder, their lawyers said Wednesday.

Lawyers for Eluana Englaro's family said they would start civil actions against those who allegedly defamed her father, Beppino Englaro, and anaesthetist Amato De Monte, who led the medical team that removed Eluana's feeding tube at an Udine clinic.

Father-and-son legal team Giuseppe and Massimiliano Campeis said they would examine the 'hundreds' of complaints lodged by pro-lifers with the Udine public prosecutor's office over the last few months.

They will also sweep the Internet for defamatory comments against Englaro and De Monte left on blogs, they said.

Any money awarded from the suits will be given to a new association, For Eluana, being set up to finance initiatives regarding living wills, which allow people to stipulate what medical treatment they want in the event they later become unable to make a decision themselves.

Massimiliano Campeis told the Messaggero Veneto that the case will involve ''dozens of people''.

It was not immediately clear whether damages would also be sought from high-profile politicians and Catholic Church figures who have accused Englaro and De Monte of murder.

Among these are the Vatican's health minister, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, who last week reacted to news of a murder probe against Beppino Englaro by saying ''If Beppino Englaro killed Eluana then he's a murderer''.

Barragan, one of the strongest critics of the landmark court decision that allowed Englaro to end his daughter's life after 17 years in a vegetative state, said he had met the father ''on several occasions''.

''I told him where I stood and on one occasion he got very angry, saying I was calling him a murderer, but that's what the (Fifth) Commandment says''.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi, who had vowed to save Eluana's life during an emotional press conference on live TV, was quoted by the conservative daily Libero following her death as saying that she ''did not die a natural death, she was murdered''.

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

She had been in a permanent vegetative state for 17 years following a car accident at the age of 21 in 1992.

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

Beppino Englaro, who fought for over a decade for a dignified end to his daughter's life, is one of 14 people including De Monte currently being probed in connection with Eluana's death by Udine prosecutors after pro-lifers lodged a suit against them.

Udine Chief Prosecutor Antonio Niancardi said last week that 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.