Fritzl moved to long-term prison

Fritzl was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in March

Josef Fritzl, the Austrian who raped and imprisoned his daughter for years, has been moved to a long-term prison to serve his life sentence, officials say.

He was transferred from a Vienna prison to the Stein facility in Krems, some 50km (30 miles) west of the capital.

He will be held in a special wing for inmates found to be mentally abnormal, but still responsible for their crimes.

Fritzl, 74, fathered seven children with his daughter while she was locked in a cellar for 24 years.

One child died of neglect.

In March, Fritzl was found guilty of all charges against him, including rape, incest, enslavement and murder, and was sentenced to life in prison.

The Stein facility - which can house more than 800 inmates - offers Fritzl the best protection against potential attacks by other inmates, and also has its own hospital ward, officials said.

Fritzl had wanted to be moved to Garsten prison, closer to his home town of Amstetten, but his family said they did not want him nearby, AFP news agency reported.

In 1984, Fritzl lured his then 18-year-old daughter into the basement of the family home, and raped her repeatedly in the years that followed.

The case only came to light in April 2008, when she convinced him to take a severely ill daughter, whom Fritzl had fathered with her, to hospital.