The German Cannibal

A German cannibal who admitted killing and eating a man he met over the internet was convicted of murder and sentence to life in prison today after a retrial that has kept Germany engrossed.

Armin Meiwes, a 44-year-old computer technician, was originally convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years' jail over the killing in March 2001 of Bernd Juergen Brandes.

But that verdict was overturned by an appeals court to allow prosecutors to seek a tougher sentence.

In the retrial, which started in January, Meiwes's lawyers argued that the Frankfurt state court should instead convict him of the lesser offence of "killing on demand" -which carries a maximum sentence of five years - on the grounds that he was only following his victim’s wishes.

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