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Fritzl goes on trial in Austria
#1
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7940564.stm

Fritzl goes on trial in Austria
The trial has begun of Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man accused of holding his daughter captive for 24 years and fathering seven children with her.

TV pictures showed the 73-year-old entering the courtroom with his face concealed by a blue file. He refused to answer questions from journalists.

He faces charges of rape, incest, coercion, enslavement and deprivation of liberty.

He is also accused of the murder of one of his daughter's children.

The case, seen as one of the biggest in recent Austrian history, is attracting intense media interest.

No-fly zone

Escorted by six policemen and dressed in a grey suit, Mr Fritzl made the short walk down the corridor from his cell to the courtroom, where journalists tried unsuccessfully to question him before the judges arrived.

Speaking in a weak voice, Mr Fritzl gave the judges his name and other personal details.

An estimated 200 journalists are in the town of St Poelten for the trial.

However, fewer than 100 were allowed inside the courthouse, and camera crews and photographers were told by judges to leave shortly after the trial started.

Mr Fritzl put down the blue folder only after they had gone, Reuters news agency reported.

A no-fly zone has been imposed above the courthouse to prevent news crews using helicopters to get aerial shots.

Mr Fritzl has been held in custody in St Poelten since his arrest nearly a year ago.

Testimony

Prosecutors say Mr Fritzl is guilty of murder through neglect in the case of one of the children, a boy twin, who died shortly after birth.

All evidence in the trial is due to be given behind closed doors, with no press or public present, out of concern for the privacy of the family.

The evidence includes hours of pre-recorded testimony given by the daughter at the centre of the case.

Edited details of the day's proceedings will then be released to the press each afternoon.

The trial is predicted to last just a week, with a verdict expected on Friday.

The case first came to light after one of the children fathered by Mr Fritzl and kept underground, became seriously ill and was taken to hospital.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Carl Jung - Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14
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#2
I don't really understand the Austrian judicial system. He is pleading guilty isn't he? Do they need a trial if he pleads guilty? He couldn't put his family through any more humiliation and pain than they have already been through all these years surely.
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx

"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.

“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
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#3
Magda Hassan Wrote:I don't really understand the Austrian judicial system. He is pleading guilty isn't he? Do they need a trial if he pleads guilty? He couldn't put his family through any more humiliation and pain than they have already been through all these years surely.

I think he plead guilty to some charges (e.g., incest) but not all charges (e.g., murder).

On the upside, if there is an upside here, they taped the daughter's testimony so that she doesn't have to sit in court and testify in front of the monster and the world.

But back to your bigger point about the Austrian judicial system, I don't understand it either. They have the puniest sentences for some of the most horrendous crimes.
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