Josef Fritzl has been denied parole after being released from his psychiatric unit. His lawyer tells the Mirror that he will appeal against the decision and that he could ‘be freed by next year’
Incest monster Josef Fritzl has been denied parole after being released from his psychiatric unit.
He was jailed for life but his lawyer argued that he should be transferred to a care home because he has been diagnosed with the onset of dementia. That application for parole has been refused, his lawyer told the Mirror today.
He was taken to a court in Austria where he told of his genuine remorse for his horrific catalogue of crimes. But a court in Graz in south east Austria has ruled that he cannot be freed. Despite his age and dementia, Fritzl was deemed to still pose a danger.
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Three judges heard that he had looked ‘intensely’ at papers which outlined the suffering endured by his daughter Elisabeth when he imprisoned her for 24 years. Fritzl, 90, was pictured for the first time in 15 years outside of prison walls in January, 2024. He had been enjoying coffee in cafés close to the unit where he is held.
Landesgericht District Court near Krems an der Donau ordered he must continue regular therapy sessions.
They were said to have helped “rehabilitate” the rapist who was also found guilty of negligent homicide of a child by his daughter who died shortly after birth.
His lawyer Dr Astrid Wagner said that his application to be freed on parole had been refused on the grounds that he is still deemed to be ‘dangerous’. She told the Mirror: “I believe these are not grounds to refuse our application.
“I do not believe that he is dangerous. We intend to appeal against this decision. I still think that he could be freed by next year.”
Josef Fritzl’s son gave evidence against him and he was sentenced to life in prison in 2009 after locking Elisabeth in the basement of his home in Amstetten, Austria in 1984. She did not see the light of day until she was discovered in 2008, when one of her seven children fathered by Fritzl fell ill.
In February this year, Ms Wagner told the Mirror: “We will call for parole and if the court rejects it we will appeal and given his condition I believe he will be released by next year. He wants to live close to where he previously did and he wants to live alone but I think that is very unlikely given his age and condition. He would need a carer and none of his friends or family want to know.”
The bid for freedom by Fritzl, who was moved from a psychiatric facility to a normal prison in Austria last year, is likely to outrage his victims and his family members. Lawyers revealed that deluded Fritzl, jailed for life in 2009 for a series of shocking crimes including rape, incest and false imprisonment, believes that he would receive a great ‘fanfare’ on his release.
Ms Wagner added: “He believes that when he is released, he will come out to a big celebration with people cheering and music and wanting to shake his hand. This obviously not the case. It is a fantasy. I don’t think he fully understands what the world really thinks.”
“Every time I see him, he says he regrets his decisions every day. He has ruined his life. He always talks about his regrets about his crimes. He thinks he has friends on the outside, but he hasn’t. One thing he accepts is that his family no longer want to see him and respects that.”
She said that former electrical engineer Fritzl, who created a lair under his family home in the quiet town of Amstetten to imprison Elisabeth and her children, passes his days in his cell reading and watching TV.
Wagner, who also helped the monster write a book in 2023, added: “He likes being around young people. They leave him alone but he has no friends. No one ever comes to visit him. He sometimes gets confused and tells me that TV news crews have been to visit him in his cell but I tell him that is impossible because he’s not had a visit from anyone apart from me.”