Fritzl trial gets under way

(16 Mar 2009) SHOTLIST
AP Television
1. Various of exteriors of court where trial is taking place
2. Wide of people and media gathered outside courthouse
POOL
3. People sitting in court room waiting for Josef Fritzl's arrival
4. Various of Josef Fritzl covering his face with a blue folder as he walks into courtroom surrounded by guards
7. Fritzl standing in court with his face covered
8. Back of Fritzl's head, zoom into face hidden in folder
9. Wide of court, pan to Fritzl standing in court
10. Prosecutor Christiane Burkheiser watching Fritzl
11. Close of writing on guard's uniform reading: (German) "court guards," pull out to mid of Fritzl hiding behind blue folder
12. People in court
13. Reporters asking Fritzl questions as he hides face behind folder, pan to media in court
14. Close of folder in front of Fritzl's face
15. Various of people in court standing up as Judge Andrea Humer walks in
16. Judge taking seat
17. Pan of people in court sitting down
POOL
OVERLAID WITH CLOSE OF FRITZL SITTING IN COURT WITH FOLDER IN FRONT OF HIS FACE
18. SOUNDBITE (German) Andrea Humer Judge
"The topic of these two days proceedings is the case of Josef Fritzl against the State Lawyer who is accused by the prosecutor of Amstetten of committing the following crimes: murder, enslavement, false imprisonment, coercion rape, incest. This was the crime of a single person in his close family, to the disadvantage of family members, and not a crime committed by a village, region or even a whole nation."
POOL
19. Tilt up of Fritzl sitting in court with folder in front of his face
20. Various of courtroom
STORYLINE
A man accused of imprisoning his daughter for nearly a quarter of a century and fathering her seven children repeatedly raped her in front of the youngsters, prosecutors said on Monday as his trial opened in Austria.
Josef Fritzl hid his face behind a blue file folder as a judge began the proceedings under heavy security in Saint Poelten, 65 kilometres (40 miles) west of Vienna.
Fritzl pleaded guilty to incest, but denied murder and enslavement.
Police say the 73-year-old has confessed to holding his daughter for 24 years in a cell he built beneath his home.
Investigators say DNA tests show he fathered her six surviving children.
One of the children died in infancy, and prosecutors charged Fritzl with murder, contending the baby might have survived if Fritzl had arranged for medical care.
In her opening statement, prosecutor Christiane Burkheiser accused Fritzl of raping his daughter in front of the children.
Burkheiser said Fritzl didn't talk to his daughter during her first few years in captivity.
She alleged that Fritzl once punished the young woman by shutting off electricity to the dungeon.
Defence lawyer Rudolf Mayer appealed to the jury to be objective and not swayed by emotions. He insisted Fritzl was "not a monster."
A verdict is expected by Friday.
Investigators say DNA tests show he fathered her six surviving children.
Fritzl's voice was weak and soft as he gave the judge his name and other personal details on Monday.
Before the trial got under way, Fritzl's lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, told The Associated Press his client was nervous.
Mayer on Monday said he had no particular strategy for Fritzl's defence before the court.
Authorities say Fritzl imprisoned and repeatedly raped his daughter, Elisabeth, over nearly a quarter of a century in the cramped and windowless dungeon he built beneath the family's home in the western town of Amstetten.
The crime stunned people worldwide when it came to light last April.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...