Austria - Cellar father charged with murder
Cellar father charged with murder
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2008/11/456.jpg The Fritzl case has shocked Austria and the world
The Austrian father who allegedly imprisoned and abused his daughter for 24 years has been charged with murdering one of their seven children.
The charges against Josef Fritzl, 73, carry a prison sentence of ten years to life in prison.
Mr Fritzl is also charged with slavery and rape. If found guilty, he faces 20 years in jail on those charges.
He has been in custody since the case came to light in April and a trial is expected to begin early next year.
Mr Fritzl fathered seven children with his daughter Elisabeth in a cellar at his home in Amstetten, west of Vienna.
Last month he was cleared as mentally fit for trial.
The state prosecutor's office in the town of St Poelten said Mr Fritzl was being charged with murder in connection with the death of his seventh child, who died in the cellar in 1996 shortly after birth.
Austrian prosecutors say the newborn died because Mr Fritzl failed to seek help, even though he was aware that the baby might die.
Mr Fritzl had told police that the child, one of twins, had been born dead and he had burned the body in a stove.
