Kampusch deserves 2mn compensation, says MP
Greens MP Peter Pilz has claimed one to two million Euros was a “realistic” amount of financial compensation for kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch.The politician caused a stir some weeks ago by publishing top secret police files suggesting that authorities attempted to cover up investigation blunders into the abduction case.The documents show that investigators failed to follow up a police dog unit leaders tip-off that could have helped Kampusch to freedom just days after she was snatched off the road on her way to school in March 1998.The man told colleagues dealing with the case of a “loner with a sexual tendency towards children” when he heard that investigations were focused on owners of white vans. When stopped in a random traffic check, kidnapper Wolfgang Priklopil told officers he was renovating his house when they asked him what the cement and other building materials in the back of his white van were for. Police did not interview the paedophile despite knowing his address given to them by the boss of the canine squad.Pilz has claimed Kampusch was eligible to earn financial compensation from the Republic of Austria for psychological and physical pain she suffered while being kept imprisoned by the sex fiend for more than eight years.Asked what amount he would consider as “realistic”, he told newspaper Österreich today (Mon): “One to two million Euros.”Pilz stressed Kampuschs case was “unprecedented” and “difficult to estimate”.He added: “There was the chance of freeing Miss Kampusch shortly after the kidnapping.”Pilz accused Austrian police of “botching things up in a manner I thought could never happen”.Kampuschs lawyer Gerald Ganzger recently announced he was in talks with his client over whether to launch compensation claims.The 21-year-old woman who fled from Priklopils clutches in August 2006 presented her autobiography “3,096 Tage” (3,096 Days) at a bookshop in Vienna last week.Hundreds of people including her mother Brigitta Sirny attended the reading despite Kampuschs announcement weeks before the event was due that she would not answer questions or sign any copies of her book.Kampusch is now set to travel to Amsterdam, London, Berlin and Paris to speak about the book she wrote in partnership with two female journalists.”3,096 Tage” is currently second in the bestseller list of online store Amazons platform for German-speaking Europe.Kampusch recently branded her abductor a “Nazi out of fear”. She explained: “I spoke with him about it after hearing on the radio what happened in New York (on 11 September 2001). I pointed out how many people lost their lives, and he just said the attack would end the Jews world domination.”She added: “I dont think he was a real Nazi. I dont think it mattered to him whether these people (who were killed) were Jewish or not. He didnt like Americans. He felt threatened and haunted by everybody. So more of a Nazi out of fear.”Kampusch also said she planned to kill herself three times during the eight and a half years Priklopil who killed himself hours after she managed to flee imprisoned her.