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Austria cellar probe 'oppressive'
bbc ^

Posted on 05/03/2008 1:37:04 PM PDT by austrian

Austria cellar probe 'oppressive'

Mr Fritzl refuses to explain his actions

Forensic work in the dungeon where an Austrian man allegedly held his daughter for 24 years is "oppressive", police chief Franz Polzer has said.

Officers wearing special masks can only work one hour at a time because of the lack of oxygen in the windowless cellar, he told AP news agency.

Police say Josef Fritzl, 73, imprisoned and raped his daughter Elisabeth in the cellar in Amstetten in Lower Austria.

They say she bore his seven children - three of whom never saw daylight.

Mr Fritzl, who is in custody, has confessed to the crime in a written statement, police say.

Mr Fritzl is refusing to answer any more questions, as police try to piece together conditions in the cellar - as well as the suspect's life.

Gas threat

Investigators say they have found two heavily reinforced concrete doors that could only be opened by remote control.

Mr Polzer told AP: "They are open now, but we are trying to get another way out of this room because the working conditions in this prison are so exceptional."

Officers are expected to comb the scene for several weeks

He added that officers could "work there only one hour and during this hour they try, one team after the other, to gather everything available in this living space".

Mr Fritzl also reportedly told his victims they would be gassed if anything happened to him.

Technicians are trying to establish if this was more than a threat.

Work in the cellar is expected to take weeks.

In a separate interview with Austria's APA news agency, he said the work was "overwhelming and oppressive for investigators".

Mr Fritzl's alleged crimes came to light when Elisabeth's eldest daughter Kerstin, 19, became seriously ill.

She was allowed out of the cellar and admitted to hospital in Amstetten.

Police then issued an appeal to Elisabeth Fritzl to contact them about her daughter, and later picked up Mr Fritzl and Elisabeth near the hospital.

Elisabeth and the children are now in care with the Austrian authorities, who are protecting their privacy at a psychiatric clinic.

Kerstin is fighting for her life in hospital.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: elizabeth; fritzl; incest; rape
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1 posted on 05/03/2008 1:37:04 PM PDT by austrian
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To: austrian

This is the weirdest story to me - I thought at first the girl was 11 - but he waited until she was 18? to put her in the cellar? What an awful story....


2 posted on 05/03/2008 1:42:43 PM PDT by porter_knorr
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To: austrian

Weeks? How big is this dungeon?


3 posted on 05/03/2008 1:44:14 PM PDT by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast
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To: porter_knorr

This is the weirdest story to me - I thought at first the girl was 11 - but he waited until she was 18? to put her in the cellar? What an awful story....


the heart breaking part of this story is. this girl ran away when she was 17 because she was raped. and was brought back by police... then later he imprisoned her. lets hope there is a hell and let this monster rot.


4 posted on 05/03/2008 1:50:40 PM PDT by austrian
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To: austrian; porter_knorr
"the heart breaking part of this story is. this girl ran away when she was 17 because she was raped. and was brought back by police..."

Do you have a link to a news article that says this? Everything I have read is that he forced her to write a letter saying that she had run off with a cult so her mother would think she had run away, and then he imprisoned her. I have never read anything that said she had run away on her own.

5 posted on 05/03/2008 2:01:30 PM PDT by Spunky (You are free to make choices, but not free from the consequences)
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To: Spunky

sorry i cannot provide a link for that i watched it in the news on austrian TV


6 posted on 05/03/2008 2:06:57 PM PDT by austrian
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To: austrian

There were no air shafts? How did they breathe down there?


7 posted on 05/03/2008 2:18:42 PM PDT by traumer
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To: 668 - Neighbor of the Beast

It was a pretty large cellar, and the man received permission from the town to build it as a shelter during the nuclear threats of the 80’s.


8 posted on 05/03/2008 2:46:48 PM PDT by SuziQ
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To: porter_knorr

Well, at least we TRY to save children....despite the Freepers who defend the FDLS against the “authorities”.
I bet those children wish they had CPS.
That is why we so aggressively at least investigate any possible child abuse.


9 posted on 05/03/2008 2:58:56 PM PDT by Recovering Ex-hippie
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To: austrian

“Mr. Fritzl is refusing to answer any more questions”

Oh, is he, now? Perhaps, Mr. Fritzl needs to be introduced to ‘waterboarding.’


10 posted on 05/03/2008 3:11:30 PM PDT by Continental Soldier
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To: Spunky

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3863885.ece


11 posted on 05/03/2008 3:14:55 PM PDT by porter_knorr
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To: Recovering Ex-hippie

Sounds like there’s another thread I’m not following that you’re still upset about?


12 posted on 05/03/2008 3:15:54 PM PDT by porter_knorr
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To: austrian

I did see that—she was the only one who fought against him....how strange her siblings just ignored what happened, no one in that family could possibly believe she’d just go and not be in touch.


13 posted on 05/03/2008 3:20:03 PM PDT by porter_knorr
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To: austrian
"overwhelming and oppressive for investigators".

Imagine living in that environment for 24 years!!! Apparently, Elisabeth's 2 boys talk in grunts and groans and cannot even stand up straight.

Every time I read more information on this whole tragedy.....I shake my head in disbelief....

I send up prayers every day for Elisabeth and her children....

14 posted on 05/03/2008 3:27:21 PM PDT by BossLady ("People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul" - Carl Jung)
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To: porter_knorr

I am just comparing the FDLS ( where neighbors were “clueless” so they say) and many Freeprs got so upset focusing on the “government” taking the children out ( going overboard !)and here we have a situation where there was not a tough enough protection for abused children...oh, yeah and the “neighbors” were once again “clueless.”

Evil can exist when good men do nothing ( not sure who said that...?)


15 posted on 05/03/2008 3:49:36 PM PDT by Recovering Ex-hippie
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To: BossLady

this is the most horrible story i ever have heard in my life. i can not even imagine what hell this poor woman and her kids have went through in this 24 YEARS!! this is heart breaking.


16 posted on 05/03/2008 3:54:02 PM PDT by austrian
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To: austrian

Euroweenies will convict Mr. Fritzl of a minor charge. He will be out of prison in less than 10 years.


17 posted on 05/03/2008 4:06:47 PM PDT by pabianice
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To: pabianice

austrian law.

kidnapping 10 - 20 years.
rape 5 - 15 years.

so i guess since he is 73 he will die in prison.


18 posted on 05/03/2008 4:31:50 PM PDT by austrian
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To: Recovering Ex-hippie

ah - apples and orange comparison.
Those never work well.

But I think we can agree that it is good this woman is finally out of the cellar, I hope she gets the help she needs to lead a full 2nd half of her life.


19 posted on 05/03/2008 4:42:47 PM PDT by porter_knorr
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To: Recovering Ex-hippie

Edmund Burke.


20 posted on 05/03/2008 5:36:22 PM PDT by fetal heart beats by 21st day (Defending human life is not a federalist issue. It is the business of all of humanity.)
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