Now case for OLG

Appeal now lodged against transfer of Josef Fritzl

(Bild: Imre Antal)

Following last week's decision by the judicial senate to transfer incest perpetrator Josef Fritzl (88) from a detention center to a normal cell, the public prosecutor's office has now lodged an appeal against this.

The case will now go to the Vienna Higher Regional Court (OLG) for a decision. The transfer of the 88-year-old to a normal prison sentence, which was pronounced by a three-judge panel last week and is not legally binding, was limited to ten years. According to the decision, Fritzl must provide evidence of regular psychotherapy and psychiatric examinations.

Josef Fritzl

(Bild: Imre Antal)

No representative of the public prosecutor's office was present at the hearing last Thursday, which was not open to the public but attracted a great deal of media interest. In any case, Fritzl will remain in detention until a legally binding decision is made.

General conditional release
The three-judge panel also ruled on a general conditional release, which defense lawyer Astrid Wagner is still seeking. However, this step was rejected for special preventive reasons.

The conditional transfer to normal detention, which has now been appealed by the public prosecutor's office, was based on a psychiatric report by expert Heidi Kastner, which attested that Josef F. no longer met the conditions for detention due to dementia, among other things. This was followed by the three-member senate, which, according to Wagner, also found that the 88-year-old was "no longer dangerous".

(Bild: Imre Antal)

New decision
The ball is now in the court of appeal in Vienna, which has already examined the case several times on the basis of previous expert opinions. In 2022, the Higher Regional Court ruled against a conditional transfer from the detention center for Fritzl, who has since changed his name. The Krems Regional Court had previously decided otherwise. In March 2023, a new decision was made in Krems, which stipulated that placement was still necessary. However, this was again overturned by the Vienna Higher Regional Court as the appellate instance.

The Amstetten incest case came to light at the end of April 2008. Fritzl had held his daughter captive in a cellar 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 at the same time ordered to be committed to prison. The guilty verdict included murder by omission, slave trade, deprivation of liberty, rape, blood libel and aggravated coercion and therefore all charges.