Austrias justice minister: don’t punish him too hard
Austrias justice minister Maria Berger is against a hard punishment for Josef Fritzl.
“15 years are enough. 20 years the maximum”, she says.
Austrias Interior Minister Günther Platter from the Peoples Party claimed a hard punishment for sex offenders. The Socialdemocratic justice minister disagrees.
The justice minister also criticizes the behaviour of Lower Austrias minister president Erwin Pröll (Peoples Party). “Pröll has obtruded himself to help the victims”, she moans in an interview of Austrias daily newspaper “Kurier”.
The minister should resign instead of making stupid comments
Better search her house for a government funded basement.
not fair-if this was her daughter-would she still make the same comment?
For a woman in her position it is incredible that she makes these statements. This is evil in its most extreme. It seems she has the same mindset as Josef Fritzl. A shame for Austria.
What a jerk. She tries to look progressive by making public
remarks contrary to public opinion .As a minister of justice
she is responsible for the incompetency of the Austrian police
to track down this person on time.She should resign NOW
Actually Raven Sati is right ……..check for a basement
This is outrageous. Where is the justice for his daughter? He wont even be in jail as long as he kept her hidden way.
Aside from all that he did to her the whole time she was down there, what about her mental state now?
What a dispicable shame.
And to read further down on the website that someone can expect to go to jail for upto a year for giving someone chocolate?
Thank God Im AMERICAN!
no punishment in the world is enough for this man
How inconceivable to think this monster deserves a thought of lieniency. I say put him in jail and let the other inmates have their way with him, that should take care of things until God does his justice.
Who must be punished for never checking why this young girl had tried to run away from home twice? Why is there that no one listens to the children in our societies??? When a child runs away from home, more often than not, there are some reasons… Where are the social services at those critical times? Society should try to prevent such crimes. Not just come after the crime has been comitted and try to ‘fix’ things… Nothing will ever be normal for anyone in this family, especially for those that were in the cellar.
Austria should make their laws a bit more flexible. If I keep someone prisoner for 24 years, without raping him/her, just keep him/her underground…What sort of punsihment will I get? 5 years? I mean this case is not just about a sex crime…We shouldn’t just talk about the punishment for sex offenders, this is something much more complicated and serious than a rape. Finally, I believe sex crimes should never be erased from an offender’s records. This way, the authorities will be able to check any suspicious behaviour on time. In the present case, for example, the fact that Elisabeth tried to run away from home twice, might make them suspect that something was wrong at home, if they could see her father’s convictions for sex offends…
Maria Berger is just as big of a monster as Josef Fritz . Perhaps she knew about it all along? How could she have mercy on such a cruel monster? I bet she would feel very diffrently if it was her that was locked up in a dungeon and continually raped by her father for 24 yrs.. I know all Austrains are not heartless , but they sure have dumb dumb heads enforcing the WEAK laws.
Maria Berger YOU ARE WRONG!! and a Very FOOLISH WOMAN! You bring more shame to your country with your IGNORANCE and lack of respect for the victims of Josef Fritze. Maybe you are turned on by such Monster?
I pray everyday for the well being and full recovery of Elizabeth and her children.
The mother Rosemaria may have been terrified to disobey her husband . But what a terrible ,terrible price her daughter and grandchildren have had to pay for her lack of curiosity and Lack of COURAGE!
Please convert his sex into female and i have four dog they can fuck him front and back simultaneously.
and whoever support him fuck those people also . and Maria berger my elephant dick is good for her pussy.
this criminal should be locked up for the rest of his life in his own dungeon and maybe toghether with the Justice Minister
This monster Josef Fritzl should receive no less than 24 years in a windowless cell. Better yet, 24 years times 7 = 168 years. He should serve 24 years for each victim – not concurrently. He should never be allowed to see daylight again.
The only question I want to ask Maria Berger is how 1 man can take A LIFE from other people (Elizabeth and her kids)……Josef should die……
15 years to a man who imposed 24 years on her OWN DAUGHTER????????????????????????????
AND 24 BECAUSE OF AN ACCIDENT NOT BECAUSE HE REPENTED AND WANTED TO HELP THEM.
. THE LEAST SHOULD BE 24 YEARS, THE RIGHT SHOULD BE LIFE IN PRISON WITH THE REMOVAL OF HIS SEX ORGANS ON A WINDOWLESS CELL….OR DO IT AS JOLI SUGESTED.
OMG….this is beyond words, beyond comprehension. I’m speechless.
no punishment in the world is enough for this man
Austria’s justice minister Maria Berger is a total ass. A better title for her would be Austria’s non justice Minister.
Better yet, drop Maria in the cell with him… hhmmm
stupid asshole..oh my god…why this justice minister for?
Thank God I don’t live in Austria where rape and incest is obviously tolerated!!! How can anyone that claims they care for their community let something like this go unpunished. I would hardly say that 15 to 20 years is punishment for a despicable crime like this. Maria, have you once thought about what that poor woman went through every time her father came down the stairs to RAPE her? And what about the law enforcement agencies in Austria, they didn’t care that a rapist was building rooms in his basement-this wasn’t strange to them? Now I know what country to NEVER visit. Not saying that everyone in the country is like this, but out of principle this country should always be known as the rapist-friendly capital of the world!! If you want to rape and brutalize people and get away with it–Austria is the place to go!!!! Sick mother-fuckers!!!!
Hello Maria Berger, what is wrong with you? Are you human, to say something like “that he shouldn’t get too much punished” Are you a demon too?
This man has to stay in prison all his life,best would be to put him in his own dungeon and sent a strong guy down there to rape him as often as possible and let him go through, for the rest of his life what ,the daughter had to go through
Characters like Berger seem to care more for the criminals than the hapless victims of their crimes. I wonder whether she would have been so full of concern for this monster if she or her family were the victims.
There seems to be something deeply wrong in the Austrian system which is unbecoming of a wealthy, developed country. (1) Elizabeth ran away twice in her teens. Did a mental health worker interview her to find out why she ran away? (2) It is strange that someone’s criminal records should be erased after 15 years! Can’t they keep it at least till the criminal dies? (3) It seems the Fritzl family lived in fear of this tyrant. Despite all this, the monster was given parenthood of the three children “abandoned in front of the house by Elizabeth”!
And when the public tries to grapple with the enormity of this crime, instead of engaging in some soul searching and trying to examine what is wrong with the system, we hear the head of the government talking about an advertising campaign to salvage the country’s image!! I thought inept politicians were largely a problem of the third world.
I cannot imagine how somebody can survive in a windowless little dungeon for 24 years. I wonder what kept her going. Elizabeth must be an extraordinarily resilient woman. May she and her children be able to live happy, peaceful lives at least hereafter.
I am speechless! This country continues to shock me!! I am so glad I am not Austrian. The Justice Minister of this country thinks that 15yrs for taking away the life of 8 people is more than enough! Raping your own daughter, incest, keeping humans like animals in a dungeon…all this only deserves 15 years??!!!
What a shame Austria!
Firstly no one in your social security system tried to find out why poor Elisabeth was running away from her own family and YOU brought her back to her monster father.
Secondly, what sort of justice system allows crimes as serious as rape to be scrapped off a person’s record??
Thirdly….why in todays world does anyone need to build a nuclear bunker and that too in the middle of Europe….instead of questioning this was easily sanctioned by the authorities!
Fourthly, how did police just believe that this girl has run away and joined a relegious sect when in fact there are NO relegious sects in Austria!
This country is full of weak minded individuals that actually propogate and encourage evil. After this no one will be surprised at what else comes out of anyone’s mouth in Austria!
Sadistic people understand consequences, not mercy. Fritzl needs a very harsh sentence. What he did to Elizabeth is horrible- it is torture in the extreme. Ask a child who has been sexually abused by their parent how long it takes them to get over it. He destroyed many lives. If Austria excuses a father who behaved in such an inhuman way and gives him a light sentence, the rest of the world will hate Austria for it. I am trusting the decent people in Austria to give Elizabeth and her children the justice they deserve. Please dont disappoint me.
Now that the world knows about this horrific crime, you would think humanity would step up to the plate for Elisabeth, the children, and for justice. For the rest of us who were not forced to spend 24 years repeatedly raped in a cellar this would be an easy thing to do and the very least we could do. There is NO compassion or humanity in Maria Berger’s words. This is as disappointing to me as the crime itself.
Just when you think this story couldn’t get any worse….
Austria more and more shocks me, is there any sense of decency in this Country? I will never visit Austria after this, disgusted with the place.
How can the Justice Minister come out with such a stupid comment, 15 years is enough punishment for him, What planet is she on! She definitely seems to care more about the villian than the victims.
This man should never again see the light of day. No punishment is enough for him. He will probably plead insanity, his deeds were certainly insane but were too meticiously planned to be the actions of a mad man. Let him rot in hell, disgusting excuse for a man. I would give him the death penalty only I think he would get off too easy, he should be made to sufffer a long and slow death. An eye for an eye and all that. Don’t believe his wife didn’t know anythiing; Rosemarie West in the UK comes to mind when I think of her.
Poor Elizabeth and her children will never recover from this. How could they? May she find the courage and peace of mind to carry on for her own sake and for her chidren’s sake.
She must be kidding. But that’s NOT funny.
I agree that locking this guy up in a smelly cellar for the rest of his life, and make sure he gets raped on a regular basis, could start looking as the right way to proceed.
i dont belive this. This man locked her daughter for 24 years and gets only 15 or 20 years locked? This is not enough!!!! She can not count?
And what about locking other three people (his children) letting one die, and the rape??
100 years in prison is not enough.
I hope he will get the biggest punishment that had ever was given by any authorities.
She was probably in on the whole thing and If she wasn’t in on it .. she has the same kind of heart, mind and spirit as Mr. F.
shame on you AUSTRIA !!!!!
At a dinner party this weekend in Canada, conversation turned to Austria’s Josef Fritzl. We expressed our horror and disgust at the evil, cruelty and depravity of this man. This case is deeply troubling and frightening. We wondered about Rosemarie. How did she not suspect a thing, when almost annually for a period of time Elisabeth’s babies arrived at her home, coupled with Fritzl’s obviously bizarre behavior. The burning haunting question for Rosemarie must have been, where and how is my Elisabeth? If allowed, the plea of insanity which the lawyer is now claiming he will make will bring more devastating shame than ever to Fritzl, his lawyer, his family, to Austria and to all of us beyond. This man must face himself, his depravity, his cruelty, his evil. He needs to face his crimes and he needs to face them squarely. Claiming “insanity” perpetuates the lie that he has lived. Fiona Blaikie Sloan, Canada
Punishments must be deterrent for the others intending such disgusting and cruel crimes.I don’t agree with Justice Minister,20 year
punishment is nothing against the incredible things her daughter lived.
Maria Berger is just a socialist who should stay with her Animal Passport queries. From the way she looks, she probably is a man who went through gender change surgery and fantasized of committing such crime herse..himself. Austria is still a great country, don’t let one shallow man tarnish the country’s reputation. An example must be shown, harsh punishment is more than meets the eye. It sets an example for long term objectives that people would really understand te consequences of committing such crime. As for Maria Berger, people of Austria, come on, d something, aren’t you horrified enough with Josef Fritsl’s crime, furthermore, to shame youself and let your country be represented by some coldhearted woman with low IQ ?
Oh, one more thing, can someone please tell her she’s overdosing on botox ? Looks so Mrs. Franskenstein.. creepy…
Hearing those words ” 15-20 years in prison” from a JUSTICE MINISTER(FOR CRIME PERHAPS) iS totally shocking,shameless,and indespicable or i dont know whats the best words fits to her…perhaps A MONSTER, a fucking idiot, my country may perhaps a corrupt country but as long as the govermant knows u committed crime they are trying my best to solve it right away and most of the decision for crime like this are from the people…so i choose that he will be hang under a fire and take away his penis and eyes.forgive me Lord for saying this…but im still proud to say IM A FILIPINO BY HEART AND BY MIND…and u Justice Minister u beter get ur ass on ur chair as a minister u only bring shame to ur people and ur country…down most heartless and shameless woman of the world
Berger, we are not amused at all. Get yur sexy underware on and jump on him!
Austria, wake up and get this useless woman from office! And somebody please check her basement!
The wise people of Austria !…. Why don’t you give this Berger witch the lesson she deserves…?
Maybe the justice minister would like to be raped and locked up and tied up by this monster.
i think they should lock him up into the cellar for 24 years, and lucky him, no one is going to rape him
The Justice minister would have made a good Nazi with her wicked comments.. Let’s put her in the cell for 24 years and see if she changes her mind….What is wrong with Austria’s Justice System???? Here in the USA the Monster would not last one day in Prison….He has no soul, so there should be no sympathy for him… I believe the Justice Minister should resign her post.. She is obviously not functioning with a full deck of cards…..
Who agrees a death penalty on him?
HA…i had thought Austria will not longer surprise me with its pervertedness but look….they have just let a man walk free after he raped a 4year old child several times. The very kind hearted jusdge (who must be fritzl’s and berger’s soulmate) just gave the man a 10 month sentence and as the man was already in prison since 10 months he walked free after the trial!!!!!!!
AUSTRIA IS WITHOUT DOUBT THE MOST DISGUSTING COUNTRY ON THE PLANET!
he is just a dirty perv at the end of the day she has lost her 24 years of her life to him raping her and having inbreed children let him free and see wot the people do 2 him that would be worse for him.
This woman Maria, is a product of Austria. It was the Austrians that put her in her position, this is how Austrians think. So, why do we expect justice? Why do we think the laws will change. Austrian society needs to change, but since War World II, the mentality is the same. Everyone looks the other way, doesn’t see anything,doesn’t hear anything and when someone like Fritzl comes along, they want to be lient with him! Fifteen years is nothing, lock him up for 24 years like he did to his daughter, and while they do that, do the same to Maria, obviously she wants that! What a stupid woman Maria is…no wonder Rosemarie the wife didn’t do anything about her husband’s behavior….are all Austrian women idiots?!
This man should be charged for each time he raped his daughter, every day he imprisoned her, and every day he imprisoned each of his children by her. It’s likely he was raping the daughter who became critically ill. Denying his daughter and their children medical and dental care should also be separate crimes. Isn’t it a crime not to report childbirths? What about withholding education for his dungeon children? A sentence of anything less than life without parole is incomprehensible.
Helloooo to All! Maybe u have read this recent story about Austrian Justice System: “Another strange court decision in context to child abuse is reported in todays Austrian newspaper “Kronen Zeitung”.
A 55-year-old man was sentenced to a prison term of 10 months for raping a 4-year-old girl several times. Even employees of the court house were shaking their heads after such a decision. As the man already spent 10 months in prison before, he was a free man after the trial.
MAKE A COMMENT ON THAT!!!!
THIS ONE IS FOR PAM PHILLIPS AND ALL OTHERS INTERESTED:
I totally agree, Maria Berger,Instead of listing all the crimes J.F. should be charged with and how many years he would get for each of them, adding them up and calculating the total number of years he will be in a solitary confinement (because the criminals in the EU are so precious, they cannot DESERVE Death Penalty), thinks she’s entitled to decide and Sum up and abbreviate the years in the name of the whole HUMANITY!!! WAKE UP AUSTRIA, DO IT IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE CREATOR OF ALL HUMANS OR WHATEVER YOU MAY BELIEVE IN!!!!!!!!!!! GOING TO CHURCH AND LIGHTING UP A FEW CANDLES AT NIGHT IS NOT SUFFICIENT; GOD WANTS MORE OF YOU NOW, HE WANTS SOME ACTION, DON’T BE COWARDS OF THE REGIME, OTHERWISE, YOU WILL HAVE TO WITNESS AND LIVE THROUGH MANY MORE SIMILAR CRIMES IN YOUR COUNTRY AND DON’T BLAME THE WORLD IF OTHERS HATE YOU FOR THAT! IF YOU DON’T ACT SOON, THE HATERATE WILL GROW FONDER………….
THEODORA, YES AUSTRIAN WOMEN MUST BE ALL IDIOTS BUT WORSE THAN THAT, i THINK MOST OF THEM ARE ALCOHOLICS……. THAT GOOD TASTING AUSTRIAN BEER ERASES THEIR MINDS AND THEY THINK, JUST BEING SOBERED UP FROM THE NIGHT BEFORE AND GOING TO CHURCH WILL SAVE THEM…………YOU WOULD THINK A EUROPEAN COUNTRY’S WOMEN COULD BE MORE EDUCATED AND RATIONAL, WHEREAS IN SOME POOR COUNTRIES, MOTHERS GIVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR CHILDREN. IF THOSE CHURCHGOERS ELECTED THAT MARIA BERGER THEY SHOULD BE 100 TIMES MORE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES. THIS IS THE WORSE BETRAYAL OF A WOMAN AGAINST ANOTHER WOMAN (Elizabeth)., I WONDER IF SHE’S A SPINSTER WHO WISHED SHE WAS RAPED ONCE ALL HER LIFE???? DOES SHE HAVE ANY KIDS??? I MUST READ ABOUT HER LIFE TO FIND OUT!! IF ANYONE COMES ACROSS ANY INFO ABOUT THIS MARIA WOMAN, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!!!!!!!
Theodora, good point. It being the nature of Austrians to look the other way, I believe now more than ever the wife knew what was going but like a good little Austrian in the face of evil, she looked the other way.
What? The JUSTICE MINISTER said this? You’ve got to be kidding me. AUSTRIANS – demand that this moron be FIRED for her comments. What the hell is wrong with German-speaking Europe? This man would already be dead if he were in America….you know how other prisoners treat child abusers.
If the minister really didn’t say these things….her office had better do some major public relations to improve her image.
I still cannot believe this. PLEASE tell me this isn’t true. Josef Fritzl should be locked in solitary confinement with only bread and water FOR THE REST OF HIS PATHETIC LIFE.
Must be something wrong with Austrian government, also the people have NO knowledge or care what happens in their neighborhood. This will never happen in USA
The way I see it Austrian people look the other way.
15-20 years IS NOT enough! He should be forced to bear more than the 24 years his daughter did! Then even more time for every time he raped her & made her go through childbirth alone without medical attention!
I never cry for any news only this Elizabeth’s news…..now you’re free….I want to say you’re a hero of this world…..God bless you and your family (except the monster !!!)
It this Maria Berger human?!?! — not to mention female?!?!?
I’m speechless, a ruthless incestuous rapist who locked his own flesh and blood up liked a caged animal and used her for his own debaucherous, perverse desires, and she thinks no more than 20 years is enough punishment?!?!?!?!?
God help us
I am not surprised. She is just a typical citizen of the most depraved nation on earth–Austria.
Where Eichmann, Hitler , Priklopil and Fritzl are lionised, can Maria Berger be far behind??
i hope that if there are any decent citizens left in austria they will cry out for the resignation of maria berger and demand justice for the seven people fritz abused and kept as slaves. maria berger is as depraved as all the child molesters in that evil nation.
all countries in the world have crime; but the way in which a crime is viewed by a society it speaks of the justice and moral fiber that forms that nation.
the comments of many austrian and of their law makers and lawyers in regards to these cases is proof that austria is a depraved nation lacking any sense of justice or moral integrity. they serve no justice to their children or those who are weak.
but we shouldn’t be surprised. this is the same nation from where hitler came forth. they are a blood thirsty nation who prey on those they can subjugate or view as weaker.
they maybe friendly and kind to a tourist but rape and kill their children in the dark while the rest of their society stands by and watch without any repercusions for the perpetrator. WHERE IS JUSTICE IN AUSTRIA?
Put Maria Berger in the cellar and let Fritzl jump on her!
“There are no romances, no love, other than our childhood fantasies”, Austrian psychoanalyst Siegmund Freud once reminded us. If we can separate the person from the problem, we find Joseph Fritzl, who admitted of an incestuous relationship with his mother in his childhood, later on developing a sort of ‘addiction’ in having sex with his own daughter. Here the protector became the attacker. Though no reasons of any sort will ever bear sufficient excuse for his ‘crime of the century’, as a human being, he deserves sympathy, just as our sympathies for poor Elizabeth and her innocent children. He should never walk as a free man, but instead, should undergo rigorous treatment in a psychiatric asylum.
ELISABETH SHOULD BE THE ONE TO DECIDE HOW MUCH PUNISHMENT IS APROPRIATE FOR THE CRIME COMMITED AGAINST HER AND HER CHILDREN NOT THE JUSTICE MINISTER
THE JUSTICE MINISTER SHOULD BE LOCK UP IN THE DUNGEON WITH JOSEF FRITZL SEE HOW MANY BABIES THEY COULD PRODUCE
Austria, you need to reform your laws so that punishment is equal to its crime.
I recently read another story from Austria about a man who repeatedly raped a 4 year
old child and his sentence was a pathetic 10 months in jail. I DON’T UNDERSTAND!?!
It truly turns my stomach. Your punishments are a reflection of how much you value the victims, which seems to be so very little.
15 years in jail for: 24 years of Imprisonment, Rape, Incest and other horror I’m sure we will never know. If this isn’t your wake up call for change then in saddens me to think what message you are sending your countries people. They deserve better.
DO EVERYONE JUSTICE BY PUTTING A BULLET IN HIS HEAD AND SCATTER HIS ASHES AMONG THE PIGS. THE SOONER
THE BETTER SO IS VICTIMS CAN BEGIN TO REBUILD THEIR LIVES. AS LONG AS HE EXIST HE WILL CONTINUE TO CAUSE
HATE AND DISCONTENT.
oh GOD i cant blieve this STUPIDE justice menister Maria berger coments……………….
i am very lucky . becouse i am not ausrian sitzen…becous in this country wos living
2 MONSTERS ..JOSEF..and MARIA…
To be onest why she seid like this things .if your father wos facked you in the HILTON HOTEL .meybe you are happy….??????? if your brather wos facked your mather in the cell for 24 years .is no wrong..
PLEASE police Austria chek oll behaind Josef and Maria Berger ..who knows befor 24 years when he make some thing wronr wos the biuty Elsabet wos see he..after that the monster wos give her punishiment…..more…..more…….god fave world and Austria fom Josief and Maria Berger
your isnserly
s.t.e from monster free cauntry…….
MARIA BURGER, THE INSTANT YOU EVER LEARN ABOUT GODS WAY OF DEALING WITH SOMETHING LIKE THIS YOU WILL PERSONALLY
END FRITZS LIFE WITH YOUR OWN HANDS, WHEN JESUS CHRIST WALKED THIS EARTH SIMPLE DISOBEDIENT CHILDREN WERE TAKEN TO THE CITY LIMITS AND STONED UNTIL THEY WERE PRONOUNCED DEAD,
THE GOVERNMENTAL CORRUPTIONS PERMEATING THE WORLD,
HE NEEDS TO BE IN A DUNGEON WITHOUT ANY CONTACT FROM THIS WORLD, NO PAPERS, MAGAZINES RADIO TELEVISION AND TO BE GIVEN BREAD AND WATER UNTIL HE DIES NORMALLY OR COMMITS SUICIDE,
AND AS WELL SOME SO CALLED GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SHOULD HAVE TO ACCOMPANY HIM AND THE FIRST TO DIE THE OTHER WILL HAVE FREEDOM