Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Natascha Kampusch, the Austrian teenager held captive in a basement dungeon for eight years, was giving her first television interview on Tuesday afternoon, Austrian TV said.
"The interview is being carried out, in a secret location," ORF spokesman Michael Krause said.
ORF will screen the interview on Wednesday at 8:15 pm (1815 GMT) simultaneously on television, radio and the Internet, while Germany's RTL will show it an hour later. Public German channel ARD will show the interview after midnight (2200 GMT).
The Austrian newspaper Kronen-Zeitung and magazine News will also carry interviews with the 18-year old in issues that go on sale Wednesday evening.
The ORF spokesman was unable to say if Kampusch's face would be blocked out in the interview, as advised by her media agent the previous day.
Telecommunications technician Wolfgang Priklopil seized Kampusch on March 2, 1998, bundling her into a white van while she walked to school.
He held her captive for eight years in an underground, sound-proofed room of eight square metres (86 square feet), only allowing her out to perform chores.
She escaped on August 23 after Priklopil let his attention drop as she was vacuuming the car. The 44-year-old kidnapper killed himself just hours after she fled by throwing himself under a train.
The ORF interviewer, Christoph Feurstein, said on Tuesday that he was letting Kampusch decide which questions she would be asked and that he would not ask about sexual relations with Priklopil.
"We are interviewing someone who is an extreme situation. Everything has to be done to respect that person," Feurstein said on ORF's website.
The interview was due to be followed by a talk show featuring her parents and the psychiatrist and juvenile lawyer who have been advising her.
jms/phs/stu/gh
Austria-criminal-kidnap
AFP 051939 GMT 09 06
COPYRIGHT 2006 Agence France-Presse. All rights reserved.
