Fritzl to remain in custody
The Austrian man who fathered seven children by his daughter has been ordered to remain in custody for another month.
Josef Fritzl, 73, has admitted imprisoning Elisabeth Fritzl, 43, in a windowless cellar for 24 years and raping her repeatedly.
She gave birth to seven of his children, now aged between 19 and five years, three of whom remained locked up with their mother and never saw sunlight until their fate was revealed nearly two weeks ago.
Rudolf Mayer, Fritzl's lawyer, made no objection at a 15-minute closed hearing, prosecution spokesman Gerhard Sedlacek told reporters outside the court in St Poelten, the regional capital of Lower Austria.
Mr Sedlacek said it had not been decided when prosecutors would again question Fritzl after a session earlier this week.
Fritzl has blamed his crimes on his Nazi childhood and has spoken of incestuous fantasies about his mother.
In comments related by Mr Mayer to a magazine, Fritzl, who denies he is a "beast", said Elisabeth's claims that he abused her from the age of 11 were untrue and that he began raping her a year after locking her up in 1984.
He is quoted as saying: "My drive to have sex with Elisabeth grew stronger and stronger. I knew Elisabeth didn't want me to do what I did to her. I knew that I was hurting her. It was like an addiction. In reality, I wanted children with her."
Fritzl said he imprisoned Elisabeth after she began going to bars, drinking alcohol, smoking and running away from home.
He said: "I tried to get her out of that swamp, organised her an apprenticeship to become a waitress. I needed to take precautions, I needed to create a place in which I could at some point keep her away from the outside world, by force if necessary."
"I knew all the time, during the whole 24 years, that what I did was not right, that I must be crazy to do something like that," he added, referring to Elisabeth's underground world as his "empire".
"But nonetheless, it became a matter of course for me to lead a second life in the basement of my house."
Fritzl insisted: "I am not the beast the media depicts me as.
"When I went into the bunker, I brought flowers for my daughter, and books and toys for the children, and I watched adventure videos with them while Elisabeth was cooking our favourite dish.
"And then we all sat around the table and ate together."
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