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ShareVienna: 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. he 73-year-old was jailed after a jury in St Poelten, Austria, 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. He was also convicted of slavery -- making him the first man to be convicted of the offense in Austria.
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. He will have a cell to himself equipped with a bed, shower, colour TV and computer-and will even be allowed a pet . He'll share a sitting room, kitchen and tea-making area with other inmates, and will have the opportunity to study a foreign language at the facility's learning centre and exercise daily in the garden. Fritzl was offered a choice of luxury prisons if he didn't appeal his sentence, The Sun reported.
The rapid four-day trial, most of which took place behind closed doors, left many in Austria unsatisfied. Many commentators have suggested that Fritzl's punishment -- confinement in an Alpine psychiatric unit, did not fit his crime.
Fritzl's sister-in-law Christine Renner, 56, told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "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."
An Austrian blogger wrote: "Imagine if Elizabeth was your child or sister and then say he doesn't deserve the death penalty? With each rape and assault on her body he killed a part of her which she will never get back."
"In theory, he could ask for his sentence to be reviewed and if the therapy proves successful he could be out in 15 years," a court spokesman said. But the spokesman rejected criticism, saying the Austrian justice system aims at "bringing the offenders back within the norms of society" rather than simply enforcing a punishment.
Fritzl's lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, 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."
Dungeon daughter to pen book
Elisabeth, who was imprisoned by her "dungeon dad" as a sex slave for 24 years, is penning an explosive book detailing the horror.
Though her book, based on sketchy diaries, the 42-year-old wants the world to know about "the hell and humiliation" her evil father put her through. She wrote diaries partly to keep track of time as the days, months and years slipped past. The notes formed part of the prosecution's evidence. Insiders say that she has realised she can profit from her dad's evil with the book.
