Buenos Aires - Argentine Justice officials were carrying out DNA tests to determine whether a 65-year-old suspect raped one of his daughters over a 20-year period and fathered seven children with her.

The suspect was arrested Friday in the western province of Mendoza following a formal complaint by another of his at least 14 children, and he refused to testify Monday.

He had eight children with his first wife - who says he also sexually abused her daughters - and six with his current wife. Beyond that, he was suspected of having fathered seven children with one of his daughters from the second marriage, now aged 35.

The man's current wife works in the provincial justice system, and the authorities did not rule out pressing charges against her for covering up her husband's alleged crimes to the detriment of her own daughter.

Mendoza's Security Minister Carlos Ciurca said the man was suspected with having abused his daughter since she was 8 years old. She had her first child when she was
17.

The suspect was to be held in a top-security prison cell.

"We have known of this situation for six months, because we had been told about it by the (provincial) legislature," Ciurca said. "We were working in secret on this issue, and what we were waiting for was for the rape victim to file the relevant complaint to put herself at the disposal of the Justice system along with her seven children."

The Austrian Josef Fritzl drew international media attention when it was discovered he had locked up his daughter for 24 years and systematically raped her. She gave birth to seven children during that time. In March, Fritzl was found guilty sentenced to life imprisonment for the death of a baby he fathered with his daughter.(dpa)