Victim volunteered, cannibalism suspect tells German court

BERLIN — A computer technician went on trial yesterday for the cannibalistic killing of a Berlin man who reportedly volunteered to be consumed after the two met in an Internet chat room and exchanged e-mail about gruesome fantasies.

Armin Meiwes, 42, from a small town in the state of Hesse, is charged with murder for sexual satisfaction in the killing of Bernd Juergen Brandes, 43, a microchip engineer from Berlin.

Meiwes made a detailed confession at the opening of his murder trial, saying he carried out the killing with the victim's consent and not for sexual satisfaction.

In late 2000, in an Internet chat room devoted to cannibalism, Meiwes posted a message "seeking well-built man, 18-30 years old, for slaughter," investigators said. A few months later, Brandes replied: "I offer myself to you and will let you dine from my live body. Not butchery, dining!!"

Brandes visited Meiwes' home in March 2001 for the express purpose of being killed and eaten, according to statements from Meiwes and police and media accounts of a videotape of the killing. The two dined on part of Brandes' body together before Meiwes stabbed him to death, according to court testimony.

The trial, in the central city of Kassel, has attracted so much attention that reporters had to participate in a lottery to get court seats.

Germany has no laws against cannibalism, and prosecutors were forced to employ a little-used murder statute in what is being billed as the country's first cannibalism prosecution.

Meiwes also is accused of "disturbing the peace of the dead" for carving up the body, whose various parts he froze in shrink-wrapped packages, police said. Between the date of the killing, March 9, 2001, and his arrest in December 2001, Meiwes is said to have consumed most of the flesh after barbecuing it in his garden, where he had buried Brandes' bones.

Meiwes faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

The case has elicited a great deal of pop psychology in Germany, including accusations that Meiwes' relationship with his mother, a woman who is said to have been cold and distant, is to blame for his acknowledged psychosis. "My client is not a monster," attorney Harald Ermel said.

German police said at least 400 people participate in various chat rooms on cannibalism, but authorities said they know of no other killings. At least one other person, who responded to the Internet posting, pleaded with Meiwes to kill him but was rejected because Meiwes said he was "too fatty," according to police.

Meiwes told the court he started fantasizing about cannibalism between the ages of 8 and 12, when he imagined eating schoolmates. He said horror movies heightened his desires and he thought he could have a friend forever by eating someone.

Police arrested Meiwes on Dec. 10, 2001, after receiving a tip that he was boasting about having eaten Brandes and was seeking other volunteers on the Internet.

After their initial e-mail, Meiwes, using the name Franky, and Brandes, using the name Cator, exchanged numerous explicit e-mail messages. Brandes traveled to Meiwes' home in Rotenburg near Kassel on March 9, 2001. Before leaving Berlin, Brandes sold his possessions and wiped clean his computer hard drive.

Upon meeting Meiwes at the train station, Brandes said, "I am your Cator. I am your flesh," the defendant said.