German cannibal gets life in prison

Armin Meiwes

FRANKFURT - A German cannibal whose killing and eating of a willing victim shocked the nation received a life sentence for murder on Tuesday after a court overturned a previous manslaughter conviction.

In delivering the decision, Judge Klaus Drescher threw out the defence team's argument that Armin Meiwes had acted on his victim's request, a crime similar to euthanasia which in Germany carries a maximum prison term of five years.

"The defendant was fully conscious of his actions and could control them," Drescher told the court.

"This is not killing on request," he said. "He killed him because he wanted to slaughter and eat his flesh. He had achieved the biggest kick of his life."

Meiwes, 44, was standing trial for the second time after Germany's top criminal court ruled his 2004 conviction for manslaughter and eight-year jail sentence was too lenient. He showed no emotion as the sentence was read out.

Under German law Meiwes could be released after 15 years. The court rejected a request by prosecutors to deny his right to be released early, saying his victim had volunteered to be killed and eaten.

Meiwes, described in court as affable and self-confident, corresponded with some 400 people over the internet in search of a willing victim, including one man who had advertised for "a likeable, older gentleman to read me my death sentence".

But the search was fruitless until he met Bernd-Juergen Brandes, a top IT manager with German firm Siemens who posted an advert for someone to "obliterate his life and leave no trace".

In a tale that has horrified the country and inspired a feature film, Brandes travelled by train to meet Meiwes in the western town of Rotenburg. There the cannibal videotaped himself severing Brandes' penis with a knife before both men tried to eat it.

Bleeding profusely, Brandes fell unconscious. With the video recorder still rolling, Meiwes laid him out on a bench, kissing him on the lips before plunging a knife into his throat.

"The next one must be young but not so fat," Drescher quoted Meiwes as saying after the slaughter was complete and his victim was suspended from a meat hook.

Meiwes, whom the judge described as psychologically sick but fully aware of his actions, froze 30 kg of flesh in parcels labelled schnitzel among other things, the court said. He later ate the flesh with red cabbage and potatoes.

Meiwes' fantasy had its roots in his father's departure from the family home and a domineering and embittered mother, according to one psychology expert heard during the trial.

The expert said Meiwes' desire to eat someone stemmed from a desire to find a partner who would not abandon him.

- REUTERS