Government tries to rebuild country’s image

AUSTRIAN Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer said his government planned to launch an image campaign to restore its reputation abroad after an incest case that shocked the world.

The plight of Elisabeth Fritzl, whose 73-year-old father Josef sexually abused her and kept her in a windowless basement for 24 years, has put the eastern Austrian town of Amstetten in the international media spotlight.

“It’s not Austria that is the perpetrator. This is an unfathomable criminal case, but also an isolated case,” said Gusenbauer.

“We won’t allow the whole country to be held hostage by one man.”

The government plans to hire consultants to get the campaign under way, and would use “all technical and professional means available to rectify” Austria’s image, he said.

Meanwhile, investigators said they were now trying to reconstruct the life of Fritzl, who had seven children with his daughter.

DNA tests confirm Fritzl fathered all six of his daughter’s surviving children. Prosecutors are investigating him for rape, incest, coercion and the death of the seventh child, whose remains he burnt in a furnace.

“Now the DNA tests prove he is both the father and grandfather of the children, we must reconstruct his entire life, piece by piece,” Franz Prucher, head of security in Lower Austria said.

“Who did he meet, where did he shop, where did he go? We have 24 years to cover.”

Amstetten officials do not blame local authorities for failing to discover the case earlier, and say those who allowed Fritzl and his wife to care for three of Elisabeth’s children acted within the law.

Described by police as “authoritarian” and “cunning”, Fritzl lured his daughter Elisabeth into the cellar in 1984 and drugged and handcuffed her before imprisoning her, according to a statement by his now 42-year-old daughter.

Reports say Fritzl went on holiday alone to Thailand and Cyprus. Officials say he could have left his hidden family alone for weeks.

Photographs of the cellar show a narrow passage leading to rooms that included a cooking area, with children’s drawings on the walls, a sleeping area and a small bathroom with a shower.

An inspection of the cellar for fire safety took place in 1999 but the hideout went undiscovered.

Fritzl’s lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, said although tests proved he was guilty of incest, evidence was needed for other allegations.