Cannibal on trial in Germany says victim was willing

Agence France-Presse | 12/03/03

[kattracks]

A self-confessed cannibal went on trial in Germany accused of murdering a victim who was apparently willing to be killed, carved up and eaten in front of a running video camera.

Armin Meiwes, a 42-year-old computer technician, was pictured laughing and chatting easily to his lawyer moments before the case opened in the central city of Kassel.

It is the first time Meiwes, dressed smartly in a jacket and tie, has been shown in public since he was arrested a year ago.

The macabre case is unprecedented in German legal history, not only because it concerns cannibalism -- which Meiwes admits to -- but because the victim was, by all accounts, a willing accomplice in his own death.

Cannibalism is not itself a crime under German law. Prosecutors say that, despite his 43-year-old victim's apparent "death wish," Meiwes is guilty of murder for sexual satisfaction and therefore liable to life in prison.

Defence lawyers argue that, at worst, he is guilty of "killing on demand," which would be punishable by up to five years in prison.

The case has gripped Germany in horrified fascination since it was revealed last year, some 16 months after the incident in March 2001.

Meiwes, who has admitted his actions to investigators and in interviews in newspapers, says he regrets what he did.

He has said he made contact with his victim, Bernd Juergen Brandes, on the Internet after advertising for someone willing to be killed and eaten.

Brandes travelled to his house in Rotenburg, near Kassel, where Meiwes cut off his penis, which they partially ate together.

Then Meiwes stabbed him, carved up the body, ate some of the flesh, stored some more in a deep-freeze for later consumption and buried bones and a skull in his garden.

The whole scenario was recorded on video, again with the apparent agreement of Brandes.

In an interview released Tuesday, Meiwes said it was not a case of murder because Brandes "Used me as a tool" to help him die.

"My friend enjoyed dying, death. I only waited horrified for the end after doing the deed. It took so terribly long," he said.

[billorites]

This whole Atkins thing is getting carried away.

[thatsmrfoster2u]

Two consenting adults in the privacy of their own home.

[John Beresford Tipton]

After tasting his willing victim but finding that he did *NOT* taste like like chicken did the cannibal say:
The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak?

[Snykerz]

Just.....Ewwwwwwwwwwwwww!

[mitch5501]

brings a whole new meaning to "bite me!"

[AndrewB]

I hope he didn't have a gammy leg....

[Conspiracy Guy]

You can find someone ready to do most anything on the internet. Al Gore shouldn't have invented the internet in the first place. Al needs to be charged as an accomplice.

[Pedantic_Lady]

I heard about this on Radio 4 this morning. This guy is a complete lunatic.

[John O]

quote of the day (if only the whole context could be kept with it)!

[TaxRelief]

**Death Culture Ping**

---

The part the American press isn't mentioning:

Adverts for willing victims led police to killer

Authorities filed murder charges against the reclusive computer systems expert on Thursday. The 41-year-old suspect admitted to investigators that he had videotaped himself killing the man who he had met via a gay Internet chat room after the victim responded to one of 80 adverts that read: 'Gay male seeks hunks 18-30 to slaughter.' Both men were computer experts and were both described as 'Internet addicts' by colleagues.

It was revealed on Friday that a chat room user tipped Police off to the existence of Armin M's grisly adverts. Investigators now know of at least five respondents to the ad, in addition to the undercover officers who answered it and quickly determined it was meant literally.

Neighbors describe killer as 'a pleasant and polite man'

Neighbors describe the murder suspect as a pleasant and polite man who kept to himself. He served in the German armed forces as a non- commissioned officer in ordinance for 12 years where was described as an amiable and conscientious military man.

After leaving the military in 1991, Armin M trained as a computer technician and until recently had a job with a software firm in the Rhine Valley city of Karlsruhe, 30km south of Rotenburg. He lived with his mother in the 17th Century half-timbered manor house, staying on there after her death three years ago.

"He was a mama's boy," a neighbor told reporters. "He was totally fixated on his mother, who he said never let him date girls. After she died, he began to thaw out."

[theDentist]

I trust the liberals and the ACLU will begin demonstrating and filing briefs in his favor as they have found a new cause celebre.

[Betty Jo]

Does Germany have "abuse to a corpse laws"?

America does.

[mtbopfuyn]

The latest "Psycho" sequel.

[Michael81Dus]

We have so too. But that´s a minor crime compared to murder. The two reasons why he is charged with murder is "to enable or to hide another crime" - in this case the other crime is "abuse to a corpse" - and murder to satisfy his sex urge.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Armin Meiwes, a 42-year-old computer technician, was pictured laughing and chatting easily to his lawyer

Apparently, he was having a ball.

[sphinx]

This probably fits (for both the eater and the eatee) within the penumbra of actualizing one's own search for meaning in the universe. David Souter would probably find this to be a constitutionally protected right. And if the German court fails to convict, Sandra O'Conner will probably feel bound by the precedent.

[Wombat101]

They guy helped eat his own penis??? What the f*** is wrong with German people??? Dr. Mengele, irony is on the phone...

[conserv13]

Sounds a little like the German Ed Gein.

[GulliverSwift]

"He was a mama's boy," a neighbor told reporters. "He was totally fixated on his mother, who he said never let him date girls. After she died, he began to thaw out."

Further proof that homosexuality is a psychiatric disorder.