Josef Fritzl, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for raping and holding his daughter captive for 24 years has applied to be freed and put into a nursing home.
Fritzl, a former electrical engineer from Austria, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape, incest, and long-term captivity of his daughter, Elisabeth Fritzl, along with the seven children she bore him, per Sky News.
Tragically, one of the children was declared dead by the court due to Fritzl's failure to seek medical help in time.
The harrowing case came to light in 2008 when Elisabeth, then 42, managed to alert the police about her captivity. She revealed that she had been held underground in the cellar of the family home for 24 years since the age of 18, enduring abuse since the age of 11.
Fritzl, now 88, had deceived his wife and acquaintances, claiming she had joined a cult.
When one of the children became unwell, he took her to the hospital and the police asked for Elisabeth to come forward. After Fritzl released her, she immediately opened up about everything and her father was arrested.
Now, the 88-year-old's lawyer, Astrid Wagner, is appealing for his conditional discharge, proposing the possibility of relocating him to a nursing home, per the Guardian.
Wagner has cited a recent psychiatric report, asserting that Fritzl no longer poses a threat to society. While a court might consider transferring him to a standard prison, Wagner argues that, given his dementia, he should be allowed to spend his remaining days in a care home. The appeal for conditional release is now pending.
Fritzl is currently held in a high-security unit for mentally disturbed patients in Stein prison, near his former home in Amstetten, Austria. According to Austrian law, prisoners can be considered for conditional release after 15 years.
Notably, Austrian media court psychiatrist Heidi Kastner, who previously described Fritzl as "extremely psychologically abnormal" in 2009, has now concluded in a 28-page report that he is no longer dangerous. Describing him as suffering from dementia, physically frail, and dependent on a walking frame, she asserts that he no longer poses a threat to society.
Wagner, who has visited Fritzl in prison extensively and authored a book about him in 2022 titled The Abysses of Josef F, maintains that his release is legitimate based on the psychiatric report.
In an interview with German tabloid Bild, she revealed Fritzl's current routine in prison, where he spends his days watching television, sunning himself through the bars of his window, and engaging in light exercises.
The regional court in Krems is expected to decide on Fritzl's appeal in the coming weeks.