The Krems regional court rejected a general dismissal. According to a report, Fritzl is no longer expected to commit any criminal acts. The decision is not final.
Josef Fritzl is conditionally released from prison. The Krems regional court decided this after a hearing on Thursday. According to defense attorney Astrid Wagner, the decision is not legally binding.
Release to normal prison (no psychiatric treatment in the sense of the enforcement of measures) is conditional on ten years. Fritzl must provide evidence of regular psychotherapy. Wagner, however, spoke of a “partial success” and her client was “very touched”.
General dismissal rejected
A general conditional dismissal was also announced on Thursday. However, this step was rejected for general preventive reasons, the court said.
The conditional and non-legal transfer to normal prison is likely to be based on a psychiatric report by the expert Heidi Kastner. Among other things, she certifies that Fritzl is no longer under the influence of a serious and lasting mental disorder due to dementia and that the prerequisites for placement in the prison system are no longer met.
“Remember what he did day and night.”
At the end of the hearing, which lasted about 30 minutes, Wagner said that her client told “how he regrets what he did. So he was actually close to tears.” In general, Josef F. may well have developed a sense of injustice. “He thinks about what he did day and night, he also has the act in the cell and he really dealt with it very intensively,” said the defense attorney.
Initially, it was not expected that a decision on the detention issue would be made on Thursday. A later written decision was announced by the court. A verbal announcement, which ultimately took place, was then specifically announced by Wagner in a media statement on Thursday morning. Fritzl – who now has a different name – is also already expecting to be transferred to normal prison, the lawyer told journalists.
Great media interest
For the 88-year-old, the current decision of the Krems three-member senate means that he should be placed in normal prison, but will currently remain in prison in the Stein prison until the decision becomes legally binding. Wagner wants to continue to advocate for a general conditional release, i.e. a step towards freedom for her client. She would like to submit corresponding applications in the future.
Astrid Wagner, Josef Fritzl’s defense attorney, spoke to the media after the hearing. APA / APA / Helmut Fohringer
The decision is not final because no representative of the public prosecutor’s office attended the hearing. According to the court, the prosecution now has 14 days to file an appeal. It is possible to lodge a complaint with the Vienna Higher Regional Court.
The hearing at the Krems Regional Court, which was not in itself public, was accompanied by great national and international media interest. Journalists from “Bild” in Germany and the British “The Sun” also arrived. Court spokesman Ferdinand Schuster reported numerous media inquiries: “I spent two days almost exclusively on the telephone.” Nevertheless, there was not the largest crowd in Krems in the past ten years, the spokesman referred to state evasion trials at the state court that were very well attended by the media. (APA/red.)
The “Fritzl” case
Josef Fritzl (born 1935) was born in Amstetten (Lower Austria) and worked for a concrete construction company. In 2008, when his crimes were exposed, he went down in criminal history. He had held his daughter prisoner in a self-made dungeon for 24 years. And fathered seven children with her. He brought three children into the light of day and passed them off as foundlings. One child died in captivity.
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