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.