"He carried out an act that was planned and prepared," psychiatrist and psychology professor Georg Stolpmann said. Last week, two psychiatric experts told the court that Meiwes could not be classified as mentally ill and could be held criminally liable for the murder. Meiwes "knew that he had someone in front of him who wanted to die", said his lawyer Harald Ermel in summing up the case for the defence.Įrmel said that the accused was not a violent man but had given in to "an obsession for human flesh". However lawyers for the 42-year-old computer technician said he is guilty only of "killing on demand", punishable by up to five years in prison. Koehler said Meiwes was not interested in the needs or desires of his victim and that Brandes' willingness to die had only provided the accused with an opportunity to carry out his long-held cannibal fantasy. Cannibalism itself is not a crime in Germany.
He demanded that the accused be jailed for life for murder, which would bring a minimum jail sentence of 15 years under German law. Summing up the case for the prosecution, Koehler said Meiwes had been "driven by the lowest possible motives" and a "willingness to kill", when he took Brandes' life and carved his body into pieces. In calling for a life sentence, state prosecutor Marcus Koehler told the court that Meiwes was guilty of committing murder for sexual pleasure and that he had planned to sexually satisfy himself later with the videotape of the act.
"You can be sure that many have not just remained in the realm of fantasy." There are several thousand in Germany and many tens of thousands around the world," he said. "The number of people on the Internet who are into it is much greater than people think.
In a statement to the court, Meiwes warned there were thousands of potential cannibals around the globe meeting and seeking victims over the Internet. He has also admitted being sexually aroused by the act. Meiwes has admitted killing and eating most of 43-year-old Bernd Juergen Brandes, whom he met via the Internet, in March 2001 but he says Brandes agreed to the killing, which was filmed by the defendant on his home video camera. "I very much regret everything that I did," the accused, Armin Meiwes, told a court in the central German city of Kassel, which is expected to rule Friday in a macabre case that has fascinated and appalled the German public. A German self-confessed cannibal expressed regret for killing and eating an apparently willing victim as a state prosecutor demanded that he be sentenced to life in prison for murder.
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