The tapes leave no doubt that Meiwes knew Brandes was still alive before killing him, a key prosecution claim for murder.
"We have opened a door on a world, a door we would rather immediately close again," said Judge Mütze.įor Meiwes, Brandes was the chance to realise his childhood longing for a big brother which, during puberty, had become a sexual fantasy of consuming this imaginary big brother to remain close forever.ĭuring the trial the court was shown shocking videos Meiwes made of the killing, which the judge called a kind of warped "wedding video". Dressed in a dark grey suit and grey tie, his wan face and hollow cheeks suggest he has lost weight since the trial began six weeks ago. Meiwes, a well-spoken computer technician from Rotenburg near Frankfurt, gave only a brief flicker of reaction at the verdict and otherwise sat with a rigid expression, his hands folded before him throughout the following two-hour judgment. He called it a case of two mentally disturbed inhabitants of a "dark underworld" meeting accidentally on the Internet and agreeing to use each other as a means of satisfying their own sexual fantasies. the murder was highly unpleasant for him," said Judge Volker Mütze. "This is not a classic case of cannibalism where someone is violently killed and eaten.
He was convicted of murder and given a life sentence at a retrial in 2006.GERMANY: German criminal law entered uncharted territory yesterday after a self-confessed cannibal was found guilty of manslaughter but escaped a murder conviction for killing and eating a man three years ago, writes Derek Scally in Kassel:Ī state court in Kassel said yesterday that Armin Meiwes (42), exhibited a "serious psychological perversion", but that his only obvious motive for the killing was cannibalism, not explicitly a crime under German law. In 2004, Meiwes was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 8-1/2 years in prison, but prosecutors appealed the verdict.įederal judges overturned that ruling and ordered a retrial, arguing that the lower court, in rejecting murder charges, failed to give sufficient consideration to the sexual motive behind the killing. He has said that Brandes answered his internet posting seeking a young man for "slaughter and consumption" and that Brandes wanted to be stabbed to death after drinking a bottle of cold medicine to lose consciousness. Meiwes was arrested in December 2002 over the death the previous year of Bernd Juergen Brandes.
It said judges had correctly determined with advice from experts that there is "currently no favorable outlook" for his future behavior. But a court in Kassel rejected his release, and the Frankfurt state court said it has now rejected Meiwes' appeal.
It is customary in Germany for people sentenced to life to be released after serving 15 years. BERLIN (AP) - A German court ruled Friday that a man serving a life sentence for killing and eating an acquaintance in a case that appalled the country in the early 2000s can't be released early.Īrmin Meiwes, who was convicted of murder and disturbing the peace of the dead, is serving a life sentence in prison.