New appeal could see Josef Fritzl released from prison as early as this year
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Handout/Getty
Josef Fritzl's lawyers say they 'believe he will be released by next year' as he prepares to submit a parole application.
Fritzl, one of Austria's most notorious criminals, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009 after pleading guilty to incest, rape, coercion, false imprisonment and enslavement.
The rapist kept his daughter Elisabeth locked away for 24 years, and started sexually abusing her when she was just 11.
During her time in captivity, she gave birth to seven children who had all been fathered by Fritzl.
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While the crimes Fritz committed are shocking, Austrian law states that a person is eligible for parole after serving 15 years of their sentence.
The 89-year-old hit that milestone last year.
It was detailed earlier this year that Fritzl had already started making demands ahead of his possible release - something which has now been detailed by his lawyer.
Fritzl’s lawyer Astrid Wagner has revealed to the Daily Mirror that they are planning to submit a parole application in the coming weeks and are confident he will be released.
After being behind bars for a long time, his team argue he is no longer a danger to society.
"We will start an action in March and 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," Wagner told the Daily Mirror.
"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 lawyer 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 is 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 wants to see him and [he] respects that."
After Fritzl became eligible for parole, the criminal had a hearing and was initially granted permission to be moved to a normal prison cell from a special psychiatric unit.
The application was approved in January 2024, before being overturned by a Vienna court in March.
Then in May, a three-judge panel ruled he should, after all, be allowed to transfer to a normal prison, but said it was unlikely he would be released.
The court said: "He no longer poses a threat that requires being held in a forensic-therapeutic centre,
"In the same decision, the three-judge panel also ruled that a conditional release from regular custody, i.e. being freed, is not possible for special preventive reasons."
LADbible Group has contacted Austria's Ministry of Justice for comment.