The defence will maintain that Meiwes performed a kind of euthanasia. Essentially they ruled that the victim's consent is irrelevant because the killing was not euthanasia, which carries a sentence of 5 years, but done to get sexual gratification. That is not the case this time around because of the higher court ruling. That is because during the first trial, there was little applicable law on the books that suited such a unique case. Legal experts believe that the 'cannibal' will be convicted of murder this time around. The defense says it was assisted suicide Image: AP And they may also have to examine the man's psychological state, which was ruled warped but sane at the first trial.

They will listen to testimony again from original witnesses. The Frankfurt court has now begun reviewing the story, the motives and will rewatch the video. Gratification,' Köhler told the three-judge panel before describing the grisly events of a night in March 2001. 'The defendant stands accused of murder for sexual He greeted his three-member legal team with a broad smile and handshakes, cheerfully answered basic questions from the judge, then listened impassively as state prosecutor Marcus Köhler made his opening statement. Meiwes, wearing a dark suit and a black dress shirt and looking thinner than when he was first convicted, was led into the courtroom in handcuffs. The men them met near Meiwes' home in Rotenburg in central Germany. He was given the more lenient sentence of manslaughter because Brandes had requested he be eaten. Meiwes, a computer expert and former army officer admitted to killing a Berlin man and fellow computer specialist Bernd-Jürgen Brandes, 42. The higher court ruled that the original trial had ignored that the video was made to satisfy the defendant's sexual desires.

The courts said the crime had most of the features of murder including gratuitous violence and prosecutors said it was murder because he killed to satisfy his own desire.

German prosecutors are asking for life in prison for the German man who killed a man and ate him afterward, video taping the act about five years ago.Īrmin Meiwes, 44, was convicted in January 2004 of manslaughter and given an eight-and-a-half-year sentence for cutting up a man he met through the Internet three years before when he advertised for someone willing to be eaten.īut German's highest court ruled last spring that the sentence was too lenient and that the 'cannibal' face a second trial on murder charges.

Armin meiwes murder video