After the Senate of Judges decided last week to transfer incest perpetrator Josef Fritzl (88) from prison to a regular cell, the Public Prosecution Service has now filed a complaint against him.
The file will now go to the Vienna Higher Regional Court (OLG) for a decision. The 88-year-old’s transfer to normal prison, which was announced last week by a three-member Senate and was not legally binding, was limited to ten years. According to the decision, Fritzl must undergo regular psychotherapy and psychiatric examinations.
No representative of the Public Prosecution Service was present at last Thursday’s hearing, which was closed to the public but attracted a lot of media attention. In any case, Fritzl will continue to enforce the measures until a legally binding decision has been taken.
General conditional discharge
The three-member Senate also found a general conditional discharge, which defender Astrid Wagner continues to strive for. However, this step was rejected for special preventive reasons.
The conditional transfer to a regular prison, about which the Public Prosecution Service has now filed a complaint, was based on a psychiatric report by expert Heidi Kastner, which shows that Josef F. no longer meets the conditions for placement due to, among other things, dementia. This was followed by the three-member Senate, which, according to Wagner, also ruled that the 88-year-old “is no longer dangerous.”
New decision
The ball is now in the Vienna Supreme Court, which has already investigated the case several times based on previous reports. In 2022, the Higher Regional Court ruled against a conditional transfer of the enforcement of measures for Fritzl, who has since changed his name. The Krems Regional Court had previously ruled differently. In March 2023, there was a new decision in Krems determining that housing was still necessary. However, this was again overturned by the Vienna Supreme Court as an appellate body.
At the end of April 2008, the Amstetten incest case became known. Fritzl kept his daughter captive in a basement dungeon for 24 years and fathered seven children with her – one died after birth. In March 2009, the now 88-year-old was sentenced to life imprisonment in St. Pölten and was admitted at the same time. The guilty verdict included negligent homicide, slave trade, deprivation of liberty, rape, incest and aggravated coercion and thus all charges.
Source: Krone
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