- Title: GERMANY: Court sentences German cannibal to life for murder
- Date: 10th May 2006
- Summary: (EU) FRANKFURT, GERMANY (MAY 9, 2006) (REUTERS) CAMERA CREWS FILMING (SOUNDBITE) (German) MARCUS KOEHLER, PROSECUTOR SAYING: (The court) "decided that the slaughtering of a human body intended to be eaten later is an offence on its own. The court left no doubt that a person who kills someone in order to carry out such an outrageous break of a taboo is guilty of murder."
- Embargoed: 25th May 2006 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany
- Country: Germany
- Reuters ID: LVA2Z4TJC0T3XH76E9EHZWECRMWR
- Story Text: A German court on Tuesday (May 9) handed down a life sentence for murder to Armin Meiwes, the German cannibal jailed for killing and eating an acquaintance. The decision overturned a previous conviction for manslaughter.
Forty-four year-old Meiwes was standing trial for the second time after Germany's top criminal court ruled the 2004 manslaughter conviction he received for chopping up and partly devouring a man who had asked to be killed was too lenient.
The ruling by the judges at the Frankfurt court means that Meiwes could be eligible for parole after serving the mandatory 15 years a life sentence carries in Germany.
Last week, prosecutors demanded that Meiwes' original eight-year sentence be overturned and that he be jailed for life, arguing that he could murder again and this time without his victim's agreement.
Prosecution lawyers argued that Meiwes had killed to satisfy sexual urges but his defence team said he had acted on his victim's request, a crime carrying a maximum 5 year prison term.
During the trial, the court heard how Meiwes made contact with Bernd-Juergen Brandes over the Internet and then met him at his home in the western town of Rotenburg in 2001.
Having severed Brandes's penis, both men tried to eat it, but without success. After heavy bleeding, Brandes finally fell unconscious.
Believing him to be dead, Meiwes laid his victim on a bench and plunged a knife into his neck while videotaping what he was doing. He later froze parts of the body and ate some of it. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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