More than 3,000 journalists will travel to Sankt Pölten in Austria for Josef Fritzl’s trial – but only 98 will be allowed in the courtroom, and most proceedings will be kept secret.
Fritzl attracted worldwide press coverage when he was accused of imprisoning his daughter for 24 years, raping her 3,000 times, and incestuously fathering seven children, allowing one to die.
The trial has started today, but will be held mostly in the absence of reporters.
The Times reports that, thanks to Austria’s strict privacy laws, the 98 journalists in the court, mostly Austrian, will leave after the indictment.
They will be told an edited version of proceedings at the end of each day. The intention is to stop the trial becoming a ‘a global voyeuristic spectacle”.
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