Germany's cannibal back on trial for eating Internet volunteer!!!

I swear its true!!!!

Published on January 12, 2006 By ShadowWar In Current Events

FRANKFURT (AFP) - The retrial of a German self-confessed cannibal has begun with prosecutors seeking a murder conviction for the man who killed and ate an apparently willing victim he met on an extreme fetishism website.

In a lurid case that has shocked the country, Armin Meiwes was back in the dock after a federal judge dismissed a January 2004 verdict of manslaughter and an eight-and-a-half-year prison sentence as too lenient.

The regional court in Frankfurt must now determine whether Meiwes committed murder, despite the victim's purported "death wish".

Cannibalism in itself is not outlawed in Germany. But if it can be proven that Meiwes, 44, killed to satisfy sexual desire or to commit another crime, in this case "disturbing the peace of the dead", he could face life in prison.

Meiwes, wearing a dark suit and a black dress shirt and looking thinner than when he was first convicted, was led into the courtroom in handcuffs.

He greeted his three-member legal team with a broad smile and handshakes, cheerfully answered basic questions from the judge, then listened impassively as state prosecutor Marcus Koehler made his opening statement.

"The defendant stands accused of murder for sexual gratification," Koehler told the three-judge panel before describing the grisly events of a night in March 2001, which Meiwes, a computer technician, captured on videotape.

A 43-year-old Berlin engineer, Bernd Juergen Brandes, met Meiwes after replying to an Internet advertisement for "young, well-built men aged 18 to 30 for slaughter".

He was one of more than 200 people who replied to the advertisement.

Brandes, who had a will, bought a one-way rail ticket to Meiwes's storybook hometown of Rotenburg, where his host picked him up at the station and took him to his rambling half-timbered farmhouse.

The two men had sex and after Brandes downed sleeping pills and whiskey, Meiwes cut off the man's penis, which they planned to eat together but found it was inedible "even when fried".

After a while, Brandes became unconscious.

"Driven by sexual lust, he laid him on a bench to be slaughtered," Koehler said.

Meiwes stabbed Brandes in the neck and hung his body from a hook on the ceiling of his kitchen.

He dissected the corpse, slicing off 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of flesh which he stored in a freezer. He later ate two-thirds of it, often with accompaniments such as pepper sauce or a wine sauce and potatoes.

The case did not come to light until an Austrian student spotted another Internet advertisement by Meiwes seeking new victims and alerted the police.

It blew the lid open on a underground scene of sex and extreme sado-masochism that the defendant told investigators is thriving.

Defense attorneys for Meiwes, who will take the stand at the next hearing Monday, told the court that their client had fulfilled a shared desire.

"This unprecedented act in German legal history should be judged as killing on demand," defense attorney Joachim Bremer said, a crime that is punishable by a maximum five years in prison.

"Herr Brandes insisted on being castrated and killed as soon as he was unconscious," he said, adding that Brandes had refused medical help offered to him after his penis had been "amputated".

Two psychiatric experts have certified that Meiwes is legally sane and criminally accountable for his actions.

State prosecutors argue that it is crucial the justice system ensure that a "highly dangerous defendant" is not eligible for release as early as 2008.

A verdict is expected in March.

Ahead of the trial, Meiwes filed requests with US and German courts for an injunction to block the release of a Hollywood film he claims is based on his case, saying the movie could prejudice his retrial.

Meiwes is reportedly working with a television production company on a documentary about his life.
Link

Comments

JillUser

on Jan 12, 2006

Wow! That really raises some questions of legality. If the guy is being totally open, and people respond to wanting to be "slaughtered" then let natural selection take its course. I think it is interesting that someone who has sex with someone, cuts their penis off and tries to dine with the person on it and then processes him like a side of beef is deemed "sane".

Move over Hannibal Lector!

JillUser

on Jan 17, 2006

Trying to give this a bump back so others can find it.

singrdave

on Jan 17, 2006

Oh, that article. Thanks Jill!
Link

Dr Guy

on Jan 17, 2006

Oh, that article. Thanks Jill!

Ditto! Missed this one the first time (but would rather miss the idiots I work with! Grrrrrr!!!)

JillUser

on Jan 17, 2006

Oh, that article. Thanks Jill!

I should have just provided a link but am apparently having either a blonde or hormonal day.

I owe ShadowWar for apparently being the kiss of death on his blogs.

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