Child captor Fritzl, 88, step nearer release
AN AUSTRIAN court yesterday approved the transfer of Josef Fritzl – who imprisoned his daughter in a cellar for over 24 years and fathered seven children with her – from a special security unit to a regular prison.
Fritzl, 88, was “very moved” by the court’s decision and would apply for a full release next year, his lawyer said.
He was jailed for life in 2009 for the murder by neglect of a newborn baby he fathered with his daughter Elisabeth while holding her captive in the cellar of his house. He was also found guilty of incest, sequestration, grievous assault and 3,000 instances of rape.
Fritzl has been held in a jail for the mentally ill who pose a high degree of danger in Krems, about 50 miles northwest of Vienna.
The regional court approved his application to be moved to a regular prison – the first step to seeking a release, said Astrid Wagner, his lawyer.
“The court came to the conclusion that he is no longer dangerous” based on a psychiatric report, Ms Wagner told reporters outside the court. “He is now to be transferred to a regular prison, but must undergo regular psychiatric examinations,” she said.
Calling the ruling “an important first step”, Ms Wagner added that she planned to apply for her client’s release next year.
She said that, because of his age, Fritzl was frail and was suffering from the onset of dementia. She added that he had served the minimum life term of 15 years.
Fritzl, a retired electrical engineer, locked his daughter in the family cellar in 1984, when she was 18 years old.
While claiming she had run away from home, Fritzl kept her in the basement in Amstetten, near Vienna, until 2008, raping her repeatedly, which resulted in the birth of seven children.
Elisabeth and her surviving children have taken on new identities and moved to an undisclosed location.