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06. 09. 10. - 12:00

Kampusch on death fantasies and pre-kidnap humiliation

Natascha Kampusch has revealed she imaged herself dead while being locked up by pervert Wolfgang Priklopil.

The 21-year-old writes in her autobiography "3,096 Tage" (3,096 Days), out this Wednesday (8 September), she saw her own body buried in a forest in front of her eyes.

"I thought to myself whether it hurt when one dies. But then I told myself that this doesn’t matter. What matters are the injuries," she told Austrian daily Kurier today (Mon).

Kampusch also revealed Priklopil – who committed suicide hours after she escaped in August 2006 – beat her and threw a knife at her.

She said the paedophile abductor wanted to give her a name "to weaken me". She explained: "He wanted to take power from me because my first name is rather strong and intense. He wanted to name me Maria, but I chose Bibiana – not because I liked it so much but because it comes after my own name day."

Speaking about Priklopil, Kampusch stressed he was "paranoid, sick and poor."

"He would not have kidnapped a child had he not been like that," she said.

Asked how she felt right after being snatched off the road on her way to school, she said: "I couldn’t believe it. It was as if war breaks out and everything you ever possessed is suddenly lost – as if all bad omens, presumptions and fears become reality."

Kampusch also writes about humiliation and slaps in the face during her childhood.

"I can’t lie about what I experienced. I wrote it as I experienced it," she said, adding: "I prefer everything being written down than someone making it all up."

Kampusch, who said her book was "not voyeuristic", will take part in a platform discussion at a bookstore in Vienna-Landstraße on Thursday.

Michaela Bokon, manager of the Thalia shop, said Kampusch informed her she will neither provide autographs nor answer any questions asked by fans. Bokon added security staff would be on hand.

"We’ll do everything to ensure Miss Kampusch’s safety. She will be taken away by our crew if anything happens. There will be no tolerance," she explained last week.

Kampusch, whose book will hit the shelves in 11 European countries, will travel to Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands and France shortly for PR work.

Meanwhile, ex-investigator Ludwig Adamovich has once more caused controversy by accusing judges of bungling the trial against Priklopil’s best mate.

The former head of a special group – set up last year to check whether claims that police covered up investigation errors were true – said about Ernst Holzapfel’s trial: "They didn’t enquire properly at all."

The Viennese businessman – in court for complicity in suicide charges – was found not guilty of having assisted Priklopil in escaping justice by committing suicide.

Adamovich, who previously headed the Federal Constitutional Court, was fined 10,000 Euros in December for suggesting Kampusch’s time in captivity might have been better than her childhood before she was kidnapped on her way to school in 1998. Kampusch’s mother Brigitta Sirny took him to court over the allegations made in several interviews.

Adamovich said last week Kampusch’s book was of "great importance" considering open questions into her abduction.

He previously claimed possible Priklopil accomplices might try to kill her if she speaks out about their existence towards police.

Kampusch lives in a flat close to the city centre of Vienna these days. She caused a stir by giving a remarkable TV interview just days after she fled the abductor's house in Strasshof an der Nordbahn just outside Vienna, but her TV chat show format on private Austrian channel Puls 4 was a massive flop.

German producer Bernd Eichinger ("Resident Evil") said he had her support for plans to make a film about her eight-year imprisonment.

Karoline Herfurth ("Perfume: The Story of a Murderer") and Kate Winslet ("The Reader") may star in the lead role, according to showbiz magazines.

Austrian Times

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