An Austrian police handout picture released April 28, 2008 shows a man suspected of keeping his daughter prisoner and abusing her for 24 years in the basement of a house in the small Austrian village of Amstetten.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhuanet) -- The Austrian man who allegedly imprisoned his daughter and fathered seven children with her first planned to build his secret cell as early as 1978, when his daughter was 12, authorities said Monday.

    Investigators said a total of eight doors fitted with sophisticated locks and electronics secured the underground warren of windowless rooms where they say Josef Fritzl held his daughter captive for two dozen years.

    "This was not built from one day to the next," said police Col. Franz Polzer, who is overseeing the investigation into a case that has stunned Austria and the world.

    He said the main door weighed about 500 kilograms (half a ton).

    Polzer said an investigation showed that the apartment complex owned by Fritzl originally was built in 1890, and that he applied for permits to expand it in 1978. He said police believe the plans for that expansion included the secret rooms because adding them later would have been far more difficult and expensive.

    Prosecutors told reporters in Amstetten, Fritzl's hometown about 75 miles west of Vienna, that they will have their first meeting with the 73-year-old suspect on Wednesday or Thursday.

    Officials said Fritzl's wife, the daughter he allegedly imprisoned and raped, and the children born of the illicit relationship are learning how to live together as they get psychiatric care and counseling.

    (Agencies)

Lawyer: Austrian incest father "a broken man"

    BEIJING, May 5 (Xinhuanet) -- The lawyer of the Austrian man who held his daughter captive and fathered her seven children said his client is "emotionally a broken man."

    Lawyer Rudolf Mayer told media on Sunday that it would be hard for Josef Fritzl to get a fair trial in front of a jury because of the massive publicity generated by the case. Full story

Austrian man admits to imprisoning, abusing daughter

    BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhuanet) -- A 73-year-old Austrian man arrested Sunday for imprisoning his daughter in a basement for 24 years confessed to abusing her and forcing her to give birth to seven children, according to local police Tuesday.

    Police said Josef Fritzl also admitted burning the body of a baby that died at the house in Amstetten. Full story