Austrian Josef Fritzl will go to trial on March 16th on charges of murder, rape, and slavery after admitting fathering seven children with his daughter while keeping her in the basement of the family home for 24 years.
The proceedings will last about five days and will take place in the regional court of St. Poelten, capital of the Lower Austria region.
Fritzl was charged in November with murder, rape and slavery after imprisoning his daughter Elisabeth and three of their children in a windowless, 60 square-metre cellar.
He had four more children with her, one of whom died at birth. The murder charge stems from the death of the newborn baby in 1996.
He told his wife Elisabeth had run away and abandoned three of the children, enabling him to bring them upstairs to live in the couple's home.
Fritzel's lawyer said last year his client would not appeal against the charge sheet.
A psychiatric report commissioned by justice authorities last year declared Fritzl, who has been in custody since April last year, to be mentally fit for a trial. The 73-year-old will face up to 20 years in jail if convicted of the charges.
Agencies