Janice R. Andrews
Josef Fritzl, the Austrian notoriously referred to as the “monster of Amstetten,” was recently moved from a mental health facility to a regular prison. This is a startling development in the story. Fritzl is making a daring move to win his freedom. For 24 years, he kept his daughter as a sex slave and fathered seven children with her.
Fritzl’s attempt to get paroled is largely dependent on his transfer to a regular jail, since Austrian legislation permits lifers to petition for release after serving 15 years. Fritzl was originally sentenced in 2009, and he is scheduled to attain this milestone in March.
Fritzl’s attorney, Astrid Wagner, disclosed that the court decided he was no longer a threat to the public, citing a mental assessment that indicated he might not be in the future. This result reverses a 2022 decision that denied Fritzl’s prior plea to be transferred to a regular prison.
Known as the “monster of Amstetten,” Fritzl abducted his 18-year-old daughter in 1984 and kept her in their Amstetten home’s sound-proof basement. He fathered seven children with her over the course of more than 20 years.
After years of severe abuse and incarceration, Elisabeth’s horrific ordeal came to light in 2008 when she was found in the windowless cellar. Surprisingly, Elisabeth’s mother seemed unaware that her daughter was being held captive in their own house, according to Austrian investigators.
When it was revealed that Fritzl had killed one of the sons born to his captive daughter, he was charged with incest, rape, compulsion, false imprisonment, enslavement, and negligent homicide.
According to the Austria Press Agency, Fritzl’s recent court order to be sent to a regular jail has conditions attached to it, including a 10-year probationary period during which he must receive psychotherapy and psychological evaluations.
Fritzl’s lawyer said he was “near tears” and apologised for what he had done throughout the hearing. Fritzl expressed his regret to Wagner, saying he would “love to undo everything he did” and that he is “unbelievably sorry for his victims.”
Fritzl’s acts, according to a 2009 statement from the St. Poelten provincial prosecutors’ office, “forced Elisabeth into slave-like conditions” and treated her like his property. Additionally, according to the prosecution, Fritzl had threatened to murder Elisabeth and gas their children to death. Concerns about the possible release of a guy accountable for one of the most horrific murders in Austrian history have been rekindled by the parole proposal.
