Paparazzi lay siege to Austrian incest victims' shelter

Europe News

May 17, 2008, 21:51 GMT

Vienna - A clinic where the incest victims of Amstetten dungeon rapist Josef Fritzl, 73, are receiving therapy is beleaguered by photographers vying for the first pictures of Elisabeth, 42, and her children, an Austrian newspaper said Saturday. Urgent pleas by doctors to respect the victim's privacy are being ignored by the mainly British paparazzi, the newspaper Oesterreich said. Fritzl incarcerated his daughter for 24 years in a basement dungeon underneath the family home in the Austrian town Amstetten, fathering seven children with his victim. One of the babies died shortly after birth. Fritzl was arrested following the hospitalization of the eldest of the dungeon children, which brought the case to light. The family is currently receiving treatment in a shielded ward at the Amstetten-Mauer neuropsychiatric clinic, but harassment by photographers is increasing. According to Oesterreich one photographer almost succeeded in scaling the balcony of the family's ward Thursday night before he was discovered by a nurse. The clinic also banned staff treating the family from carrying mobile phones or cameras, after one male nurse tried to sell a snapshot to the press for 300,000 euros, the paper quoted the victims lawyer Christoph Herbst as saying. Clinic chief Berthold Kepplinger threatened severe legal repercussions against any of his staff caught abusing their position, the paper said. Meanwhile the dungeon victims are venturing out into the fresh air for the first time, although forced to disguise themselves for fear of the photographers who are still found hiding in the clinic's spacious grounds. Three of the children were kept with their mother in the cramped windowless dungeon for all their lives. The others were taken by their 'father' to live with him and his wife. Officials at the Amstetten-Mauer clinic were not available for comment.

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