Retrial ordered for German cannibal

A German Federal court today ordered a retrial for a German who was convicted last year of killing and eating another man.

Prosecutors had appealed the ruling by a court in the city of Kassel, which sentenced Armin Meiwes to eight and a half years in prison. They argued that he should be given a life sentence for murder.

Meiwes was convicted in January 2004 of killing and eating Bernd Juergen Brandes. A trial judge sentenced Meiwes to eight and a half years in prison after he confessed to the crimes.

Prosecutors said Meiwes killed to “satisfy a sexual impulse”.

But Meiwes argued the victim volunteered to be killed and eaten, so the case should be classified a mercy killing, which carries a maximum five-year penalty.

Brandes travelled from Berlin to Meiwes’ home near the central German city of Kassel in reply to an internet advertisement seeking a young man for “slaughter and consumption”.

Meiwes testified Brandes wanted to be stabbed to death after drinking a bottle of cold medicine to lose consciousness.

Meiwes told the trial he regretted the killing, but Brandes “came to me of his free will to end his life”.