Flesh is the law II

Next popular cannibal is the famous Armin Meiwes. This one, I found interesting because the description of Brandes death was in a movie I saw called Feed.

 Armin Meiwes (born December 1, 1961) is a German man who achieved international notoriety for killing and eating a voluntary victim he had found via the Internet. After Meiwes and the victim jointly attempted to eat the victim's severed penis, Meiwes killed his victim and proceeded to eat a large amount of his flesh. Because of his deeds, Meiwes is also known as the "Rotenburg Cannibal" or "Der Metzgermeister" (Master Butcher).

Looking for a willing victim, Meiwes posted an advertisement at a website, The Cannibal Cafe, whose disclaimer mentions the distinction between reality and fantasy. Meiwes's post

stated that he was "looking for a well-built 18 to 30-year-old to be slaughtered and then consumed". Bernd Jürgen Brandes responded to the advertisement. Bernd Jürgen Brandes was known for his interest in crossdressing. Many other people responded to the advertisement, but many backed out and none were forced to do anything they didn't want to do by Meiwes. As is known from a videotape the two made when they met on December 25, 2001 in Meiwes' home in the small village of Roteburg, Meiwes amputated Brandes' penis and the two men attempted to eat the penis together before Brandes was killed. Brandes had insisted that Meiwes attempt to bite his penis off. This did not work, so Meiwes used a knife. Brandes apparently tried to eat some of his own penis raw, but could not because it was too tough and, as he put it, "chewy". Meiwes then sautéed the penis in a pan with salt, pepper, and garlic, but by then it was too burned to be consumed. According to journalists who saw the video (which has not been made public), Brandes may already have been too weakened from blood loss to actually eat any of his penis. Meiwes read a Star Trek book for three hours whilst his voluntary victim was bleeding to death in the bath. Meiwes apparently gave him large quantities of alcohol and pain killers, 30 sleeping pills and a bottle of schnapps, finally, he kissed him once and killed him in a room that he had built in his house for this purpose, The Slaughter Room. After stabbing Brandes to death in the throat, he hung the body on a meathook and tore hunks of flesh from it; he even tried to grind the bones to use as flour. The whole scene was recorded on the two-hour video tape. Meiwes ate the body over the next 10 months, storing body parts in his freezer under pizza boxes and consuming up to 20 kg of the flesh.

Meiwes was arrested in December 2002, after a man in Innsbruck phoned the police after seeing new advertisements for victims and details about the killing on the Internet. Investigators searched his home and found body parts and the videotaped killing.On January 30, 2004, Meiwes was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight and a half years in prison. The case attracted considerable media attention and led to a debate over whether Meiwes could be convicted at all, given that Bernd Jürgen Brandes had voluntarily and knowingly participated in the act; there were also complications as cannibalism itself was not illegal in Germany at the time.Meiwes has admitted what he has done, and expressed regret for his actions. He added he wanted to write a book of his life story with the aim of deterring anyone who wants to follow his steps. Websites dedicated to Meiwes have appeared, with people advertising for willing victims. "They should go for treatment, so it doesn't escalate like it did with me," said Meiwes. He believes there are about 800 "cannibals" in Germany.

In April 2005, a German court ordered a retrial after prosecutors appealed his sentence. They believed he should have been convicted of murder, not manslaughter, and given a life sentence. Among the questions courts answered is whether Brandes agreed to his killing, and whether he was legally capable of doing so at the moment of killing, taking into account his apparent mental problems as well as his significant intake of alcohol and other drugs. Other aspects of the retrial determined whether Meiwes killed to satiate his own desires (in particular sexual desires), and not because he was asked to, which Meiwes has repeatedly rejected during testimony. At his retrial a psychologist stated that Meiwes could reoffend and still "had fantasies about devouring the flesh of young people." On 10 May 2006, a court in Frankfurt convicted Meiwes of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Since entering prison, Meiwes has become a vegetarian and has joined a prisoners' group favoring Green Party politics.

All info from Wikipedia