Who Is Josef Fritzl? Dad Who Raped Daughter Elisabeth For 24 Years Could Be Freed
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Josef Fritzl has been convicted of murder and slavery and sent to a psychiatric unit with the highest security. But a loophole in Austria’s penal system may allow him to walk free in 14 years.
Josef Fritzl, 86, maintained the soundproof dungeon beneath the family home in Amstetten, Austria, where he raped his daughter Elisabeth 3,000 times. He even has seven children with her over the course of a decade.
Kerstin, their sick teenage daughter, was taken to the hospital in April 2008, which finally ended her ordeal. Josef Fritzl was sentenced to prison on March 19, 2009.
If Josef Fritzl is deemed no longer a danger after serving 15 years for his crimes. He may be able to apply for an early release in 2024 because he is serving a life sentence.
Almost a decade after his daughter spent more time in captivity, he will have spent less time in prison.
Fritzl was moved earlier this year from Krems-Stein prison’s special unit for criminally insane inmates to the regular prison system by Krems-Stein’s Regional Court of Krems in Lower Austria.
After serving his sentence for 15 years, then, he would be eligible for an early release.
However, the public defender’s office disapproved of this plan and immediately appealed it.
Abnormality of Mind
If he does not improve in his “abnormality of mind,” he may be sent to a psychiatric hospital, but if he responds to therapy and is found to be rehabilitated, he may be transferred to a regular prison.
He’d be eligible for parole after serving a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years. The Vice-President of the Court, Franz Cutka, states that the institution requires annual assessments and that he may be released.
Twelve policemen flanked Fritzl at his desk in the center of the court, who sat with an arched back showing no visible reaction to the verdicts.
The only comment he made was, “I accept the verdict.”
Elisabeth, who is now 55, was allowed to leave the dungeon to visit Kerstin in hospital, but she was arrested and consequently told the police all about what her father had done.
Josef Fritzl, who was jailed after his trial, said that he ‘actually meant well’.
Ankita Khanrah
Ankita Khanrah is a second-year student of the Master of Communication and Journalism (Integrated) programme at the School of Mass Communication, KIIT Deemed University, Bhubaneswar.
