Published
In theory, Josef Fritzl should soon be released. But an expert opinion could thwart his plans.
Josef Fritzl lived in this house with his wife Rosmarie. This should not find out anything about the horrific crime.
imago / SKATA
The dungeon in which the daughter of Josef Fritzl was imprisoned.
imago / ZUMA Press
Josef Fritzl locked his own daughter in the basement for 24 years.
During this time he fathered seven children with her.
The whole case was discovered because his daughter got sick and he took her to the hospital.
Josef Fritzl held his daughter Elisabeth prisoner in a cellar dungeon for 24 years, and her father raped her 3,000 times. Fritzl fathered seven children with his daughter, one died. In 2009, the then 73-year-old was sentenced to life imprisonment. Now the 86-year-old could soon be released.
The regional court of Krems in Lower Austria made a sensational decision in autumn. Accordingly, the plan would have been to transfer Josef Fritzl from the prison system for mentally abnormal offenders to the normal prison system, as «heute.at» writes. In two years he would have served 15 years of his life imprisonment and, according to the law, could apply for early release from that moment on.
The public prosecutor’s office did not agree with this plan and immediately appealed. Therefore, the higher regional court now took over the delicate case and could still prevent the possible earlier release of Josef Fritzl. Because a psychiatric and neurological expert was appointed who, according to the “courier”, examined the inmate.
An expert report on Fritzl’s state of mind should be available by the end of January. In the event of abnormalities, he would have to remain in the detention center and could not ask for early release. If the sex offender were released after 15 years, he would have been incarcerated nine years less than his daughter in the cellar in Amstetten.
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(today.at/fos)