Josef Fritzl has been sentenced to life imprisonment in a psychiatric hospital with facilities far more comfortable than the dungeon he locked his daughter Elisabeth in for 24 years
Josef Fritzl has been sentenced to life imprisonment in a psychiatric hospital with facilities far more comfortable than the dungeon he locked his daughter Elisabeth in for 24 years
The 73-year-old was jailed after a jury unanimously found him guilty of murder at the end of a four-day trial at which he had already admitted incest, rape, false imprisonment and coercion.
However, Fritzl, who raped Elisabeth more than 3,000 times, fathering seven children by her, will spend his years behind bars in far greater luxury than he gave her.
While Elisabeth and her children had to endure squalid and cramped conditions underground with little light or ventilation, Fritzl will get his own cell with a shower, colour television and personal computer.
During his imprisonment at the secure hospital unit of Mittersteig prison in Vienna, he will be allowed to keep a pet for company, if he wishes.
He can study too
Fritzl will share a sitting room, kitchen and tea-making area that all inmates can use between 9 am and 6 pm.
He will also have the chance to study a foreign language. Unlike his daughter and her children who were never allowed to leave their dungeon, Fritzl will be allowed out of his 16ft by 12ft cell to use the prison's garden for exercise.
He will also be able to keep up to date with life on the outside through access to newspapers and magazines.
Fritzl's lawyer said, "He doesn't mind where he goes. It's not like it's a hotel, but he would like a prison close to home because it may be that relatives will go to see him."
Fritzl's sister-in-law Christine Renner said, "What right does he have to live like this after all he has destroyed?
"They should have put him in a pit, put a lid on it, locked it and thrown away the key."
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