The Austrian Josef Fritzl, sentenced to life sentence for kidnapping and raping his daughter for 24 yearsreceived permission to leave the high security area where he was imprisoned.
“The court came to the conclusion that he no longer poses a danger” after 15 years behind bars, his lawyer Astrid Wagner told the press, after a closed-door hearing in the town of Krems where he is imprisoned, 80 km northwest of Vienna.
The detainee arrived at court in a police vehicle that entered the garage through the back of the building, although photographers were able to furtively capture his face hidden behind his hands.
The judges based their decision on a psychiatric report that cites his advanced age (88 years) and the beginning of dementia, the lawyer explained.
“It is an important first step. He must now be placed under a classic detention regime and undergo regular examinations,” he added.
Once the transfer is made, he could present a request for parole, according to the lawyer, who plans to do so next year.
A court spokesperson confirmed this decision, which can be appealed by the prosecution.
Convicted in March 2009, this electrician had been arrested a year earlier after the hospitalization of one of the seven children born from the incestuous relationship he had with his daughter Elisabeth.
She was kidnapped and raped between 1984 and 2008 in a type of bunker set up in the basement of the family property in Amstetten, a small municipality 100 km from Vienna.
During all these years, Fritzl continued to live on the upper floors with his wife Rosemarie who, the judges concluded, never knew anything and was convinced that her daughter had joined a cult.
The authorities filled the “basement of horror” with concrete in 2013, an essential requirement to put the house up for sale.
Elisabeth Fritzl, now 56, and her children moved to a secret location under a new name to try to rebuild their life in anonymity.
Josef Fritzl, who threatened to gas the entire family if one of the members escaped, never expressed remorse. some although, according to his lawyer, “he thinks about his actions day and night.”
Source: Ambito
