German court rejects cannibal’s appeal for suspended sentence

BERLIN: A German engineer who killed and ate a willing victim in a case that shocked the country must remain in prison even though he has served 15 years for murder, a court ruled on Friday.

The Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt endorsed a lower court’s decision to reject an appeal by Armin Meiwes to have his life sentence converted into a suspended sentence.

In a tale that horrified Germany, Meiwes found his victim, BerndJuergen Brandes, over the Internet. Brandes, an IT manager, had posted an advert for someone to “obliterate his life and leave no trace”.

Brandes travelled by train to meet Meiwes in the western town of Rotenburg in March 2001. There, Meiwes videotaped himself severing Brandes’ penis with a knife before both men tried to eat it.

Bleeding profusely, Brandes fell unconscious. With the video recorder still rolling, Meiwes laid him out on a bench, kissing him on the lips before plunging a knife into his throat.

The Frankfurt court said its ruling may not be appealed.

It was asked to review a decision by a lower court in Kassel to reject Meiwes’ appeal for a suspended sentence, arguing that experts had advised he was not fit for life outside prison.

He suspended the victim on a meat hook and froze 30kg of flesh in parcels and later ate some with cabbage and potatoes.

A German court had initially convicted Meiwes of manslaughter and sentenced him to eight years in jail in 2004.