Josef Fritzl can be moved to regular prison as he is 'no longer dangerous'

Josef Fritzl, an Austrian man who shocked the world following the discovery he kept his daughter captive for 24 years and fathered seven children with her after raping her thousands of times, can be moved from a psychiatric unit to a regular prison.

A court made the ruling on Thursday after it found the 88-year-old is "no longer dangerous".

Fritzl, who now reportedly has dementia, will have to attend regular psychotherapy and undergo psychiatric evaluations during a 10-year probation period at the prison.

“In summary, the court has come to the conclusion that it is indeed the case that he is no longer dangerous," Fritzl's lawyer, Astrid Wagner, said.

“He was close to tears during the hearing," Ms Wagner said. “He said he is unbelievably sorry for his victims, he would love to undo everything he did.”

Fritzl has been in a prison for inmates considered "mentally abnormal" since his 2009 conviction for incest, rape, enslavement, coercion and the murder, by neglect, of a newborn son.

The verdict to move Fritzl to regular prison is not yet legally binding and prosecutors have 14 days to lodge an appeal, the Austrian Press Association reported.

In 1984, Fritzl locked up his then-18-year-old daughter, Elisabeth, in a soundproof basement where he repeatedly abused her for decades.

Fritzl became known as the "monster of Amstetten" - the northern Austrian town where he lived - when his crimes were uncovered in 2008. He was then sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009.

His wife, who lived on the second floor of the home with the rest of the family, was allegedly unaware of what was happening in her basement, Austrian authorities said at the time of the investigation.

Fritzl’s daughter disappeared in 1984 at the age of 18 and did not re-emerge until 2008 from the dungeon-like basement chamber in Amstetten when she finally escaped.

She was 42 years old and had lived for almost a quarter of a century without sunlight and fresh air.

When the case came to light, it made headlines around the world.

It was announced in 2013 that the cellar in which Fritzl kept his daughter would be filled with concrete in order to prevent it from becoming a tourist attraction. There were reports at the time that the house would be sold, and that there were people interested in buying the property.

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