Josef Fritzl will be locked up in comfort
Josef Fritzl has been sentenced to life imprisonment in a psychiatric hospital with facilities far more comfortable than the dungeon he locked his daughter Elisabeth in for 24 years.
The 73-year-old was jailed after a jury in St Poelten, Austria, unanimously found him guilty of murder at the end of a four-day trial at which he had already admitted incest, rape, false imprisonment and coercion.
He was also convicted of slavery – making him the first man to be convicted of the offence in Austria.
However, Fritzl, who raped Elisabeth more than 3,000 times, fathering seven children by her, will spend his years behind bars in far greater luxury than he gave her.
While Elisabeth and her children had to endure squalid and cramped conditions underground with little light or ventilation, Fritzl will get his own cell with a shower, colour television and personal computer.
During his imprisonment at the secure hospital unit of Mittersteig prison in Vienna, he will be allowed to keep a pet for company, if he wishes.
Fritzl will share a sitting room, kitchen and tea-making area that all inmates can use between the hours of 9am and 6pm.
He will also have the chance to study a foreign language at the facility's learning centre.
Unlike his daughter and her children who were never allowed to leave their dungeon, Fritzl will be allowed out of his 16ft by 12ft cell to use the prison's garden for exercise.
He will also be able to keep up to date with life on the outside through access to newspapers and magazines.
Fritzl's lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, said: "He doesn't mind where he goes. It's not like it's a hotel but he would like a prison close to home because it may be that relatives will go to see him."
Fritzl's sister-in-law Christine Renner, 56, told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "What right does he have to live like this after all he has destroyed?
"They should have put him in a pit, put a lid on it, locked it and thrown away the key."
Earlier, Fritzl had apologised "from the bottom of my heart" for the horrific torture he meted out to Elisabeth. He claimed he wished he could "make amends" for his appalling crimes.
He initially denied murdering Michael, one of seven children he fathered by Elisabeth, and to the slavery charge, but dramatically changed his pleas on Wednesday after seeing his daughter in court.
"He burst into tears and when he saw Elisabeth actually in court it was all over for him," said Mr Mayer.
Speaking in a faltering voice, Fritzl told the jury: "I regret from the bottom of my heart what I did to my family.
"Unfortunately I can't make amends for it. I can only try to find ways to limit the damage that has been done."
Michael, one of twins, died in April 1996, just 66 hours after he was born. He developed breathing difficulties but Fritzl refused to seek medical help, making him guilty of "homicide by neglect".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...n-comfort.html
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I agree with his SIL. Too bad the death penalty was outlawed in Austria in 1950
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0777460.html
Josef Fritzl has been sentenced to life imprisonment in a psychiatric hospital with facilities far more comfortable than the dungeon he locked his daughter Elisabeth in for 24 years.
The 73-year-old was jailed after a jury in St Poelten, Austria, unanimously found him guilty of murder at the end of a four-day trial at which he had already admitted incest, rape, false imprisonment and coercion.
He was also convicted of slavery – making him the first man to be convicted of the offence in Austria.
However, Fritzl, who raped Elisabeth more than 3,000 times, fathering seven children by her, will spend his years behind bars in far greater luxury than he gave her.
While Elisabeth and her children had to endure squalid and cramped conditions underground with little light or ventilation, Fritzl will get his own cell with a shower, colour television and personal computer.
During his imprisonment at the secure hospital unit of Mittersteig prison in Vienna, he will be allowed to keep a pet for company, if he wishes.
Fritzl will share a sitting room, kitchen and tea-making area that all inmates can use between the hours of 9am and 6pm.
He will also have the chance to study a foreign language at the facility's learning centre.
Unlike his daughter and her children who were never allowed to leave their dungeon, Fritzl will be allowed out of his 16ft by 12ft cell to use the prison's garden for exercise.
He will also be able to keep up to date with life on the outside through access to newspapers and magazines.
Fritzl's lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, said: "He doesn't mind where he goes. It's not like it's a hotel but he would like a prison close to home because it may be that relatives will go to see him."
Fritzl's sister-in-law Christine Renner, 56, told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "What right does he have to live like this after all he has destroyed?
"They should have put him in a pit, put a lid on it, locked it and thrown away the key."
Earlier, Fritzl had apologised "from the bottom of my heart" for the horrific torture he meted out to Elisabeth. He claimed he wished he could "make amends" for his appalling crimes.
He initially denied murdering Michael, one of seven children he fathered by Elisabeth, and to the slavery charge, but dramatically changed his pleas on Wednesday after seeing his daughter in court.
"He burst into tears and when he saw Elisabeth actually in court it was all over for him," said Mr Mayer.
Speaking in a faltering voice, Fritzl told the jury: "I regret from the bottom of my heart what I did to my family.
"Unfortunately I can't make amends for it. I can only try to find ways to limit the damage that has been done."
Michael, one of twins, died in April 1996, just 66 hours after he was born. He developed breathing difficulties but Fritzl refused to seek medical help, making him guilty of "homicide by neglect".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...n-comfort.html
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I agree with his SIL. Too bad the death penalty was outlawed in Austria in 1950
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0777460.html
lol
