‘Italian Fritzl’ and son held in incest case

Police in Italy say they have arrested a grandfather and his son for allegedly sexually abusing the elder man’s daughter for more than a 25 years, in a case likened to Austria’s Josef Fritzl. The 41-year-old son, identified by police only by the pseudonym Giovanni, was arrested February 16; his 64-year-old father was arrested March 16, Turin Police Inspector Iolanda Seri told CNN Saturday. Both men were imprisoned, and were charged with sexual abuse of their daughter and sister, who is now 34 and has been identified by the pseudonym Laura.

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Austria Hastens to Close the Book on Ugliest Abuse Case

The moment that changed the course of Josef Fritzl’s trial was the unexpected arrival in court of his victim. Having initially pleaded not guilty to some of the charges in the case arising from his 24-year incarceration and repeated rape of his daughter in a squalid dungeon beneath his home, Fritzl reportedly broke down and wept when Elisabeth Fritzl, now 42, took the stand to testify against him

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Apologetic Fritzl faces incest sentencing

Austrian Josef Fritzl, who faces sentencing for imprisoning and raping his daughter for more than two decades, made a final apologetic statement to the court Thursday, but added, "I can’t go back and change it." On Wednesday Fritzl admitted guilt on all charges, including the murder of one of seven children he fathered by his daughter. Fritzl had already pleaded guilty to incest and other charges, but previously denied charges of murder and enslavement. But on Wednesday Fritzl told the court in St

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The Children of the Cellar

The boys knew the world only through television and the little that their mother remembered. And so now, Stefan Fritzl, 18, and his little brother Felix, 5, are getting used to sunlight. After spending their entire lives imprisoned in a cramped, windowless cellar deep underground along with their mother, Elisabeth, they are now being cared for in a special wing of a clinic near Amstetten, Austria.

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Austrian to plead guilty to rape and incest, lawyer says

Josef Fritzl, the Austrian accused of keeping his daughter in a cellar for decades and fathering her seven children, will plead guilty to rape and incest when his trial opens Monday, Fritzl’s lawyer told CNN. However, Fritzl will deny other charge he faces: murder, enslavement and assault, attorney Rudolph Mayer said Sunday. The 73-year-old expects to spend the rest of his life in prison, Mayer added

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