Lawyer: No jail for Fritzl
2008-05-04 16:13
Berlin - Josef Fritzl, the Austrian who admits imprisoning and abusing his daughter for 24 years, should not go to jail as he is mentally ill, his lawyer said in comments published in Germany on Sunday.
"In my personal opinion, Josef Fritzl is mentally ill and therefore of diminished responsibility. I believe that my client does not belong in prison but in a secure psychiatric unit," lawyer Rudolf Mayer told Bild am Sonntag.
Until now Mayer has given no indication of how Fritzl would plead in any trial, saying he did not believe that his client he would receive a fair hearing in view of the huge amount of press coverage the case has attracted.
If he believes that a psychiatric evaluation of Fritzl, 73, ordered by the court does not give a proper assessment of his client he will consider ordering a separate report, Mayer told the German weekly.
He added that he is "not defending a monster but a human being, even if that is hard to take for some people. I am already receiving threatening letters saying that I belong in the cellar with Mr Fritzl".
Fritzl has admitted imprisoning his daughter in a specially made dungeon in his basement for more than two decades where he fathered seven children by her, one of which died, according to Austrian police.
Fritzl is currently in police custody.