Status: 16.01.2024, 05:28 a.m.
By: Julia Stanton
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Josef Fritzl raped his daughter for years and fathered seven children with her. Now he could be released from prison.
Vienna – Josef Fritzl was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009. Since then, he has been held in the high-security prison in Krems-Stein. He is responsible for one of the most horrific crimes in Austrian history: for 24 years he held his daughter Elisabeth captive in an underground cellar dungeon, raped her there and fathered seven children with her. One died just a few days after birth. Three of the children were also locked in the basement until the liberation in 2008, without ever seeing daylight.
Incest criminal Josef Fritzl harmless according to expert report
But now Fritzl, who is now 88 years old, could be released. According to an expert opinion by forensic psychiatrist Heidi Kastner, Fritzl is no longer dangerous. 15 years earlier, she had described him as "highly mentally deviant" and "emotionally illiterate". But in the meantime, the "incest monster of Amstetten" is so physically frail and demented that no more crimes can be expected from him.
In April 2008, the incest drama in Amstetten made headlines around the world. Josef Fritzl had held his daughter Elisabeth captive in the cellar for almost a quarter of a century and impregnated her several times during this time. © Dpa
Fritzl's lawyer, Astrid Wagner, had obtained the expert opinion at the Higher Regional Court of Vienna. In an interview with Bild, she claims that he is harmless: "Fritzl is completely harmless today. I wouldn't be afraid to move into a shared flat with him or live in a home with him. He doesn't have a sex drive anymore."
Since a man fathered over 550 children, he now faces a fine of almost 100,000 euros.
Lawyer stands behind Fritzl: "He's not a monster, he's a human being"
Wagner is the only one who visits the convicted criminal. According to her, Fritzl barricaded himself in a solitary confinement cell, where he watched a lot of television and grew tomatoes. She is convinced that he regrets his actions. "He's not a monster, he's still a human being." As his dementia progresses, she wants him transferred to a nursing home.
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A possible transfer of the criminal was already in the room in 2022, but was prevented by the Vienna Higher Regional Court. Incidentally, in 2016, the house where Fritzl raped his daughter was sold to a strip club owner.
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