German Cannibal Gets 8 1/2-Year Sentence for Manslaughter

By Jeffrey Fleishman

Jan. 31, 2004 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

BERLIN — In a case that has tested Germany’s legal system and horrified the public, a computer technician was found guilty of manslaughter Friday and sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison for killing and eating a man he met in an Internet chat room.

The verdict against Armin Meiwes underscored the legal complexity that unfolded during the two-month trial in the town of Kassel. The victim, Bernd Brandes, consented to be killed and cannibalized in March 2001. The court rejected the prosecution’s argument that the 42-year-old defendant murdered Brandes for “sexual gratification.”

Judge Volker Muetze said Meiwes’ twisted fantasy was “viewed with repulsion in our civilized society.” But he added that “seen legally, this is manslaughter -- killing a person without being a murderer.”

The ruling dismissed the defendant’s contention that he was culpable only of “killing on request,” which carries a sentence of less than five years in prison.

The trial of Meiwes -- a meticulously dressed computer repairman with thinning hair and a ready smile for television cameras -- offered a lurid glimpse into the dark side of cyberspace. It took the public into the mind of a man who built a death chamber in his half-timbered farmhouse and dined on parts of Brandes while sipping South African red wine.

A videotape showing Meiwes stabbing his 43-year-old victim was shown to the court. The footage reveals that Brandes, a Berlin engineer with a history of depression, numbed himself with sleeping pills and schnapps and willingly chose to die and be eaten.

Prosecutors characterized the defendant as a “human butcher” and sought a life sentence for murder.

The case fascinated and sickened this staid nation. Images of Meiwes flickered across TV screens. He became a kind of macabre celebrity, seen grinning in court and whispering intently to his lawyer.

Newspapers and magazines gave pulp fiction accounts of Meiwes as a forlorn child who had long dreamed of eating a friend so he would never be alone. Brandes was portrayed as a disturbed son still mourning the death of his mother decades earlier and surfing Internet chat rooms dedicated to cannibalism.

The two men met in the anonymity of cyberspace. Meiwes, who confessed to the killing and was found legally sane to stand trial, had posted an ad seeking a young man wanting “to be eaten.” He received more than 200 replies, including one from Brandes. Days later, the two met at Meiwes’ home and each ate a piece of Brandes’ flesh before Meiwes stabbed his victim in the neck and beheaded him.

Meiwes carved Brandes into pieces and put them in a freezer. He ate 44 pounds of flesh and organs over several months, sometimes sauteing them in oil and garlic.

The crime alarmed the small town of Kassel as people discovered that Germany had no law against cannibalism. The bloody saga opened a window onto the fetishes and perversions lurking on websites and chat rooms.

Meiwes said he was repeatedly drawn to the Internet. “If I hadn’t been so stupid as to keep looking on the Internet,” he testified, “I would have taken my secret to the grave.”

In his closing statement to the court, Meiwes, who noted that he was writing a book, said: “Bernd came to me of his own free will to end his life. For him, it was a nice death.... I had my big kick, and I don’t need to do it again. I regret it all very much, but I can’t undo it.”

Muetze, the judge, said of the crime: “We have opened up a door, which one is inclined to close again immediately.”