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Because of the recent popularity and notoriety of Michael Moore’s latest flight into propaganda, Fahrenheit 911, a movie I watched this weekend packed an extra punch, on top of its many other visceral attacks on the senses. It’s not often that a European makes a movie which destroys (both literally AND figuratively) liberal documentarians, but that is exactly what the 1979 Italian movie Cannibal Holocaust does, in spades. Made for $100,000.00 in the late ‘70s by director Ruggero Deodato, CH is certainly not for everyone. Most FReepers should, in fact, take a pass. The film is reputed to be the...

MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- Four members of a family have been arrested and charged with murder for allegedly killing and eating a relative during a wedding reception -- and serving his flesh to unwitting party guests, police have said. At the July 17 wedding of his daughter, Eladio Baule got angry with his cousin Benjie Ganay who tripped and accidentally touched the bride's bottom, said Senior Police Inspector Perla Bacuel, at Narra town in Palawan province, southwest of Manila. A few hours later, Baule, his son Gerald, another cousin Junnie Buyot and a nephew, Sabtuari Pique, allegedly confronted Ganay, then...

HELENA (AP) - A five-justice Montana Supreme Court panel plans to decide whether to overturn the convictions of Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, who was sentenced to 130 years in prison for sexually assaulting one boy and torturing another by suspending him from a kitchen ceiling.Justices won't hear oral arguments, but will assess written filings, Wednesday's court order said.

GERMANY’S cannibal killer Armin Meiwes has given his approval to a film production company to bring his story to the big screen. His Heart in My Brain is the working title of the film, which is being partly sponsored with public money. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia has agreed a £14,000 grant to director Rosa von Praunheim because it likes his films. Meiwes, 42 - sentenced in January to eight and a half years for mutilating, killing and eating Jürgen Brandes, also 42, a computer programmer - still hopes that Hollywood is interested in his story. It is unclear if...

Jailed French cannibal kills inmate, eats brain CHATEAUROUX, France, July 9 (AFP) - A French prisoner serving 30 years for murder and cannibalism was under psychiatric evaluation Friday after killing another detainee and trying to eat his brain, officials and a prison guards' union said. The 36-year-old inmate, who was not named, had to be overpowered by eight people to stop him gorging on his victim, the head of the Federal Autonomous Pentitentiary Union, Frederic Grandcolas, told AFP. The attack happened in the prison of Saint-Maur, central France, last Sunday. The prisoner, jailed in 2000 for his horrific crimes three...

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Pork products processed and distributed from the farm of accused Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton may have contained human remains, a provincial health official said on Wednesday. Pickton raised and slaughtered pigs at the Port Coquitlam farm as a part-time occupation until his arrest at the property in February 2002, and police believe he gave or sold processed meat products to friends and acquaintances. Pickton, 53, is awaiting trial in the killings of at least 22 of more than 60 missing Vancouver prostitutes who disappeared over the past decade and are feared to have been...

The recent judgment in the case of Germany's most notorious criminal case since the Meinhof gang has revealed deep cracks in the soul of modern Germany, and in the souls of people at large. I am referring to the case of Armin Meiwes, Germany's "cannibal killer," the soft-spoken and polite computer technician who supped on — and with — one who volunteered himself to be cannibalized, computer programmer Bernd-Jergen Brandes. Germany's prosecutors pursued Mr. Meiwes with blutlust. It did not matter that Germany's criminal code did not address the specific act of volunteerism (except in the case of Germany's mysterious...

From the beginning, planners of the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown settlement wanted the participation of Virginia's eight Native American tribes. But things were shaky from the start -- the committee asked tribal leaders to join in preparations for the Jamestown 2007 "celebration." After the chiefs pointed out that Native Americans have no reason to celebrate the founding of the first permanent English settlement on their ancestral land, the year-long series of events was swiftly renamed a "commemoration." Now, the degree of tribal participation is again in question over an issue that the planners says they can do little about...

“German Cannibal Convicted of Manslaughter" was a shocking headline. For starters it contained a redundancy. What is ultimately the most shocking aspect of a shocking case, however, is that Armin Meiwes was sentenced to a mere 81/2 years for the lesser crime of manslaughter when he had killed Bernd Brandes, a 48-year-old computer engineer, and eaten him sautéed with garlic, black pepper, potatoes, sprouts ,and a bottle of South African red wine. Even the most liberal people think or — as Edmund Burke would improve it, "inwardly feel" — that cannibalism ought to rate both a verdict of murder and...

On first reading, the opening paragraph of an Associated Press article this past weekend was too bizarre to comprehend: “KASSEL, Germany (AP) – A computer expert who killed, dismembered and ate another man was convicted Friday of manslaughter and sentenced to 8 ½ years in prison after a court rejected a murder charge because the victim had asked to be eaten.” As I read this story, I wondered how civilized people were supposed to process such information. Is this really the future of justice? Will common sense ever again prevail in a world where anything goes? Granted, the case in...

CANNIBAL KILLER: Armin Meiwes FROZEN: After dispatching Brandes with a knife Meiwes bagged his flesh and hid it under pizza in the freezer MONSTER'S HANG-UP: Meat hook for securing victims in slaughter room THE MEAT RACK: Pervert's home-made holding pen for his victims SCENE OF THE GRIME: Seedy bath where dying victim bled for 10 hours WHO'S FOR LUNCH? Dining room SEX FOR STARTERS: The bed where Armin Meiwes romped with victim NOTE OF DOOM: The gloomy furniture was legacy of bully mum TWISTED MIND: Convicted Armin SWINGER'S SCENE: Monster's house ANTICIPATION: Bernd Brandes, 43   EXCLUSIVE: Chilling pictures...

He arrived laughing and joking. Just over two hours later Armin Meiwes, the self-confessed German cannibal who killed and ate another man, left a stunned courtroom scarcely able to believe his luck. After a unique two-month trial that has gripped both Germany and the wider world with its gory details, a judge on Friday sentenced Meiwes to a mere eight and a half years in jail after ruling that he was guilty of manslaughter and not murder. The prosecution had demanded a 15-year-term. But Judge Volker Mütze said he accepted the cannibal's argument that the man he met through the...

German Cannibal Gets Prison Sentence Jan 30, 12:03 PM (ET) By FRANK LETH (AP) Defendant Armin Meiwes, right, stands next to his lawyer Harald Ermel, left, in the district court... Full Image KASSEL, Germany (AP) - A German was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison Friday for killing, dismembering and eating another man who allegedly agreed to the arrangement over the Internet. Armin Meiwes, a 42-year-old computer expert, had no "base motives" in the crime, a state court ruled, sparing him a murder conviction. Explaining the verdict, the presiding judge said Meiwes' intention was not...

Germany (AP) - A German was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison Friday for killing, dismembering and eating another man who allegedly agreed to the arrangement over the Internet. Armin Meiwes, a 42-year-old computer expert, had no "base motives" in the crime, a state court ruled, sparing him a murder conviction. Explaining the verdict, the presiding judge said Meiwes' intention was not evil but "the fulfillment of his fantasy." His primary motive was "the wish to make another man part of himself," Judge Volker Muetze said. "Meiwes reached this bonding experience through the consumption of...

Armin Meiwes has confessed to killing his victim Self-confessed German cannibal Armin Meiwes regrets the killing and will never repeat it, he has told his trial in a closing statement. Earlier, prosecutors said he should spend his life behind bars for killing and eating his 43-year-old victim. Mr Meiwes admits killing and eating Bernd-Juergen Brandes, but says it was "killing on demand", not murder. "I regret it all very much, but I can't undo it," he told the court, insisting that Mr Brandes had chosen to die. He slaughtered his victim like a piece of livestock and treated him...

Meiwes was described in court as friendly and sensitive Self-confessed German cannibal Armin Meiwes was a "childlike" figure who wanted to marry and have children, two female witnesses testified on Friday.The women, who were not identified, gave evidence on the eighth day of Mr Meiwes' trial in the city of Kassel. They said he had tried to develop a relationship with each of them, but they denied having had sex with him. Mr Meiwes, 42, has admitted killing and eating Bernd-Juergen Brandes, but says he is not guilty of murder. Prosecutors accept that Mr Meiwes had his victim's consent,...

A SELF-confessed German cannibal needed an intensive "kick" to stimulate his emotions and found it in eating human flesh, a psychiatrist testified Monday at his trial for murder. The expert, Heinrich Wilmer, told the court Armin Meiwes had a personality disorder, probably influenced by his father abandoning his family when he was still young, but was otherwise physically and mentally sound. Nevertheless, he was immature and showed little feeling for others, and his reaction to his murder trial and the intense media coverage was "like a child excited by Father Christmas," Wilmer said. The psychiatrist said Meiwes was an emotionless...

KASSEL, Germany (AP) — A German computer expert who confessed to killing a man and eating his flesh is in good mental health, but should be given psychotherapy, a prison psychiatrist testified at his murder trial today. The suspect, 42-year-old Armin Meiwes, lacks empathy and self-control but should be considered healthy, said Heinrich Wilmer, who works at the jail in the central city of Kassel where Meiwes has been held. Wilmer said he needed psychotherapy, but did not need to be kept in a psychiatric institute. Meiwes went on trial Dec. 3 and confessed in detail to the March 2001...

A conference organiser based in London gave an explicit account yesterday of a winter afternoon spent in a German hotel being marked up for execution by confessed cannibal Armin Meiwes. The 27-year-old clean-shaven and black-haired Dirk Moller was ushered into the Kassel courtroom through a concealed entrance to avoid a battery of television cameras and photographers waiting outside, and his address was not given in open court. An earlier witness wore ski goggles and a hat. No one wants to be identified as the partner of one of Europe's most notorious cannibals. After the London witness briefly confirmed his name...

No matter how you cut it up, eating people is simply wrong - By Barbara Amiel (Filed: 08/12/2003) Not a few modern cannibals in the West have been German and it would be tempting to say, after reading the testimony of self-confessed cannibal Armin Meiwes, now on trial in Kassel, that eating people is a peculiarly German thing to do. But there have been some American and British cannibals, with the odd Russian as well. What may be an EU speciality is that apparently cannibalism is not a crime - though using wooden chopping boards may be. Somehow, one would...