Austrian incest father, 88, could soon be eligible to apply for release

FILE PHOTO: Defendant Josef Fritzl is pictured during proceedings on the last day the last day of his trial at the court of law in Sankt Poelten in Austria's province of Lower Austria March 19, 2009. An Austrian court sentenced Fritzl to life behind bars for incest, rape, coercion, false imprisonment, enslavement and for the negligent homicide of one of his infant sons. REUTERS/POOL/Robert Jaeger/File Photo

(Reuters) - An Austrian man who held his daughter captive for 24 years and fathered seven children with her could be transferred from a unit for the criminally insane to prison where he would be eligible to apply for release, a court official said on Tuesday.

The 88-year-old man, widely known as Josef Fritzl but who now has a new name, was sentenced in 2009 to life imprisonment in the special unit. If transferred to a regular jail, he could apply for early release on parole 15 years after his conviction.