Austrian prosecutors are appealing a court's recent decision to move Josef Fritzl, dubbed the "monster of Amstetten," who held his daughter captive for 24 years and fathered seven of her children, to regular prison.
The decision came down last week, when a court ruled that Fritzl, 88, could be transferred from a psychiatric ward to a regular prison, reportedly marking the first step of his expected parole bid.
Ferdinand Schuster, a spokesperson for the state court in Krems, on Thursday confirmed via broadcaster ORF that a Vienna court will now have to decide whether Fritzl may be transferred to regular prison after prosecutors challenged last week's ruling, according to the Austria Press Agency.
Austrian law allows prisoners sentenced to life in prison to apply for parole after serving 15 years, which Fritzl will reach in March, since he was initially sentenced in 2009.
"In summary, the court has come to the conclusion that it is indeed the case that he is no longer dangerous," Fritzl's lawyer, Astrid Wagner, told The Associated Press of the court's decision last week.
JOSEF FRITZL, WHO RAPED DAUGHTER AND KEPT HER CAPTIVE FOR 24 YEARS, COULD MOVE TO REGULAR PRISON
Fritzl reportedly has dementia, and a psychiatric evaluation suggested that he does not pose any future threats to the public. Thursday's court decision overturned a 2022 ruling rejecting Fritzl's request to be moved to a regular prison.
In 1984, Fritzl kidnapped his 18-year-old daughter, Elisabeth, and kept her locked in a sound-proof basement in their Amstetten home, where he fathered seven of her children over more than two decades.
CELLAR WHERE JOSEF FRITZL HELD DAUGHTER AND FATHERED HER CHILDREN TO BE FILLED WITH CEMENT
She was found in 2008 after 24 years of captivity and brutal abuse in the windowless basement. Elisabeth's mother was apparently oblivious to her daughter's captivity in her own home, according to Austrian authorities.
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When asked about her whereabouts, Fritzl would reportedly say she had run away. In 2008, authorities charged Fritzl with incest, rape, coercion, false imprisonment, enslavement and negligent homicide after he had killed one of the sons he had fathered with his captive daughter soon after the baby was born.
The court agreed to move Fritzl into a regular prison upon the condition that he undergo psychotherapy and psychiatric evaluations over a 10-year probation period, the Austria Press Agency reported.
In a 2009 statement, the St. Poelten provincial prosecutors’ office said that Fritzl had "forced Elisabeth into slave-like conditions . . . shut her away in the cellar and made her totally dependent on him, forcing her into sexual acts and treating her as if she was his own property," according to Reuters.
Prosecutors also alleged that Fritzl had threatened to kill Elisabeth and gas their children to death.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
