An Austrian court has ordered the conditional release of Josef Fritzl. The Austrian news agency APA reported this on Thursday. Fritzl was sentenced to life in prison in 2009 for locking up and abusing his daughter for years. The now 88-year-old man had requested a transfer to a nursing home due to his deteriorating health. During the case, his lawyer also argued with a recent psychiatric examination, which allegedly showed that Fritzl is no longer a danger to society. The report has not been made public.
Fritzl’s case shocked the world at the time because of the gruesome details that became known. The man turned out to have kept his then 18-year-old daughter Elisabeth in a specially designed basement since 1984 and to have repeatedly abused her. Together they had seven children. Three of them had to grow up in the basement, while three other children were raised by Fritzl and his wife in the rest of the house. The seventh child died two days after birth. During the trial, Fritzl admitted to neglecting the baby.
The matter only came to light in April 2008, when one of the children became seriously ill and had to go to hospital. In the intervening 24 years, Fritzl had convinced his family that his daughter had joined a cult, and in the meantime had dropped the three ‘visible’ children with him and his wife.
According to Fritzl’s lawyer, he now shows “sincere remorse” and talks a lot about his family. He is said to be suffering from early dementia.