In a case believed to be the first of its kind in Europe an Italian couple face prosecution for causing their 12-year-old child "psychological suffering" by going through an acromonious divorce in which they allegedly argued in front of him and fought for his affection.

Milan prosecutors have asked a judge to charge the couple - who have not been named under Italian privacy laws - with "ill treatment of a minor" because of "the psychological suffering inflicted". The charge carries a prison sentence of up to five years. Legal experts said they could recall no such previous prosecution in Britain or Europe.

The case was authorised by Marco Ghezzi, the Milan prosecutor for cases involving minors, after a health visitor reported that the child was "disturbed".

Antonio Sangermano, the magistrate who is conducting the prosecution case, said the mother and father had blamed each other for their break up in arguments carried out in front of the child.

The prosecution report states that: "Each blamed the other for shortcomings and educational errors in bringing up the child", with each parent trying to "discredit, devalue and undermine the other" in front of him and "project their emotions onto him, above all anger".

The couple had not physically mistreated the child. But this "parental hyper-conflict" had induced "a syndrome of anxiety and depression" over his "conflicting loyalties and emotions", which in turn had led to "problems of concentration", with the child falling behind in his school work, the prosecutors said.

The result had been to "confuse" the child and instil in him "the conviction that his parents hated each other". The prosecutors alleged that both parents had persisted in arguing in front of the child even though he told them it was "making him feel ill".

They had "manipulated" the child in an attempt to "make him decide between them", using him as a tool in their divorce battle, the prosecutors said.

Cesare Tacconi, a Milan judge, will decide early next month whether to go ahead with a trial. To protect the identity of the child, judges have refused to divulge the name of the town near Milan where the family lives.

Piero Caprera, a lawyer for the wife in the case, said it was "undeniable" there there had been "arguments within the family". But he said the prosecutors would be unable to prove the parents had intended to harm the child, as the charge of "maltreatment" requires, and predicted that the judge would dismiss the charges.

Corriere della Sera, the Milan newspaper, said if the case went ahead it could have implications for "untold numbers of other cases" in which divorcing or separating couples had rows in front of their children.

Cesare Rimini, an Italian divorce and family lawyer, said the Milan case was "a sign of growing social alarm over the effects of divorce on children". Mr Rimini said that all too often children were "the indirect victims of a fight between their parents". The law was designed to "protect minors against abuse within the family and physical or moral harm." but had not previously been used in this way.

Frances Hughes, Senior Partner of Hughes Fowler Carruthers and a leading family lawyer, said: "I am certain that no such prosecution has ever been brought in the United Kingdom."

But she said that in parts of Europe it was "now widely accepted that conflict between parents jeopardises children's mental health and stability. For example, in the Netherlands it is now standard practice for interim orders to be made to ensure that the parents do not live in the same property while the divorce is going on if there is a child living with them.

"In England we would only make such an order if one of the parties had behaved violently or threatened violence. It may well be that this area of law is rather more highly developed throughout the European Union that it is in England."

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