AUSTRIA:JOSEF FRITZL, who imprisoned his daughter Elisabeth for 24 years in his cellar in Amstetten, Austria, was a "tyrant" to his family, his sister-in- law has said.
A week after his double life was exposed, it has emerged that Fritzl owes about €2 million in various mortgages, for which Elisabeth may be financially liable.
"He was such a tyrant who didn't tolerate any contradiction," Fritzl's sister-in-law, Christine, said on Austrian television. "If he said it was black, then it was black, even if it was as white as you like." She said her 68-year-old sister Rosemarie married Josef Fritzl when she was aged 17.
"She was at his mercy and he took advantage of that for 51 years," said Christine, adding that he "drilled" his seven children to fall silent when he entered the room.
"You could feel the constant fear of punishment," she said. "The only escape from this climate was to marry and those who could, did so as soon as they were old enough." Christine said she was sure the cellar was something her intimidated sister never noticed - or knew not to ask about.
Police have decided to question Mrs Fritzl, but seem sure she didn't know that her husband had fathered seven children by their daughter.
Elisabeth was kept on a leash for up to nine months after he locked her away in August 1984, Der Spiegel magazine reports today.
For the following nine years, the magazine claims, the secret cellar was comprised of just one room, suggesting that Fritzl raped his daughter in front of their young children.
Elisabeth is currently in care in a clinic with her children, but her problems with her father may not yet be over.
Documents seen by The Irish Timesshow how, in 1977, he added Elisabeth's name beside his in his home's land registry entry.
That gave her special residency rights, but could make her responsible for the €2 million mortgage on the building. A bank named in the register is entitled to sell the building to recover its loan, but Elisabeth would be liable for any shortfall.
In Vienna yesterday, Austrian opposition parties attacked government plans for a campaign to boost Austria's image abroad.
"Austria is not the victim here, rather the mother in question and her children," said Eva Glawischnig, of the Greens, suggesting that the money should be spent on an "action plan against domestic violence".