Community | March 16, 2009 | 5 comments

Austrian incest father pleads not guilty to murder

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090316/ap_on_re_eu/eu_austria_fritzl_trial;_ylt=AnIgIp9O8En3f1T...

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Buddah_Funk
ST. POELTEN, Austria – An Austrian man accused of fathering his daughter's seven children as he locked her in a basement for decades pleaded guilty to incest but insisted he was innocent of murder and enslavement charges as his trial opened Monday.

Josef Fritzl hid his face behind a blue file folder as a judge began the proceedings under heavy security in St. Poelten, 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of Vienna. Fritzl pleaded guilty to incest and false imprisonment, but only partially guilty to charges of coercion and rape. He pleaded not guilty to murder and enslavement.

Fritzl, 73, faces up to life imprisonment if convicted of murder in Austria, which has no death penalty. A verdict was expected by Friday.

If convicted of enslavement, Fritzl could face up to 20 years behind bars. For rape, he could get up to 15. Incest is punishable by up to one year in prison.

Authorities say Fritzl imprisoned and repeatedly raped his daughter, Elisabeth, for 24 years in a cramped and windowless dungeon he built beneath the family's home in the western town of Amstetten. Investigators say DNA tests show he fathered her six surviving children.

The crime stunned people worldwide when it came to light last April.

Another child died in infancy, and that prompted the murder charge. Prosecutors contend the baby boy might have survived if Fritzl had arranged for medical care.

In her opening statement, prosecutor Christiane Burkheiser accused Fritzl of repeatedly raping his daughter in front of the children.

Burkheiser said Fritzl didn't talk to his daughter during her first few years in captivity and that he simply came down to the cellar to rape her.

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very disturbing.
  1. groups:
    Community,   World News,   News_Featured
  2. tags:
    News,  World News,  Murder,  Child Abuse,  1 more
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5 comments // Austrian incest father pleads not guilty to murder

  • Jacques_of_Spades
  • nengin_oregon
  • nickscheisse
    • 0
      nickscheisse  

    • sniff sniff, I smell bullshit. Even if he was Jewish, how does that change the conviction? Should he be punished more for being a crazy Jew?

      Should we start a pogrom worldwide against the Jews?

      Give me a break, anti-semitism is sooooooo last century.

    • 3 years ago
  • nursediesel
    • 0
      nursediesel  

    • I find it hard to believe the mother had no idea. The man kept his daughter in the basement, she never went down to the basement? She didn't notice the children resembled Elisabeth and/or Fritzl? The man is clearly insane and his wife is an accessary, even if she says she was afraid of him. The daughter and her children will never lead normal lives no matter where they are moved.
      Such a Shame......

    • 3 years ago
  • dmass5
    • 0
      dmass5  

    • really muted?

      guy rapes his daughter and has kids with her and you find someway to turn this into political affiliation.

      interesting

    • 3 years ago
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