Austrian incest father charged with murder.

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VIENNA, Austria – Prosecutors filed a murder charge Thursday against the man accused of imprisoning his daughter for 24 years in a rat-infested cell and fathering her seven children, saying one of the youngsters who died in infancy might have survived if brought to a doctor.

Josef Fritzl "deliberately decided not to intervene" and save the infant boy's life, said the indictment, which also charges the 73-year-old retired electrician with rape, incest, false imprisonment and enslavement.

Officials said they expected Fritzl to go on trial in March. He faces up to life imprisonment if convicted of the murder charge. Austria, like other European countries, does not have the death penalty.

Fritzl's lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, told reporters he would not appeal the charges.

Investigators say Fritzl has confessed to imprisoning and repeatedly raping his daughter Elisabeth — now age 42 — in a warren of soundproofed, windowless cellar rooms he built beneath his home starting in 1984, shortly after she turned 18.

Prosecutors released parts of the 27-page indictment, disclosing horrendous new details about the conditions in which his captives were held.

During her first year as a sex slave, Fritzl's daughter was bound in iron chains that were padlocked to a post in the cell, which lacked heat, warm water and fresh air and frequently was overrun by rats.

Fritzl regularly tortured her by beating the soles of her feet and forced her to perform sexual acts several times a day, often for hours at a time, the indictment alleges. It says Fritzl would turn off the electricity to punish his daughter, plunging the cramped dungeon into darkness for days at a time.

Police say Fritzl told them he tossed the body of the infant into a furnace in 1996 after the baby became ill and died. They say DNA tests have confirmed he is the biological father of the six surviving children.

Although nothing remains of the incinerated infant, prosecutors said they based the murder charge on interviews with Fritzl's daughter. They said Fritzl refused to take action "despite the baby's life-threatening situation" after the boy — a twin — developed severe breathing problems and turned blue.

"Whatever happens, happens," the indictment alleges was Fritzl's response as the newborn grew sicker. Prosecutors said they based the murder charge largely on that glib statement.

Prosecutors have said a psychiatric evaluation showed that Fritzl is mentally competent to stand trial. They reiterated that stance Thursday but recommended that Fritzl be moved to a special facility for mentally disturbed offenders so he can get counseling.

Prosecutors also said it will be the first time that an Austrian is tried on a slavery charge.

Fritzl imprisoned his daughter and the children beneath his apartment building in Amstetten, 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of Vienna.

Authorities say Fritzl brought three of the surviving six children upstairs to live otherwise normal lives, and claimed to his wife and neighbors that his daughter — who he said had run away to join a religious cult — had left them on the family's doorstep.

The three other children remained imprisoned along with their mother until last April, when one of the youths — a teenage girl — became ill and was taken to a hospital.

Officials said it was the first time the three imprisoned children had ever seen sunlight.

Fritzl, the indictment alleges, subjected his daughter to "multiple attacks" and terrorized her with threats that the cramped underground cell was rigged with booby traps to foil any attempts to escape. Fritzl also threatened to release poisonous gas into the homemade prison, the indictment said.

It said the daughter was completely dependent upon Fritzl for her survival and had no choice but to provide "sexual services," the indictment added.

The imprisoned children were forced to sew some of their own clothing from scraps of fabric, it said.

Police say they have no evidence to suggest that his wife was complicit.

His daughter, the children and Fritzl's wife have been getting counseling at an undisclosed location.

The case drew international attention to Austria, in part because it was reminiscent of another high-profile imprisonment case.

Natascha Kampusch was kidnapped as a 10-year-old while walking to school in Vienna. She was held in a windowless cell for 8 1/2 years but staged a dramatic escape in August 2006 while her captor was distracted by a phone call.

Kampusch, now 20, is a TV talk show host.

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