A German cannibal was convicted of manslaughter today and sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in jail for killing and eating a man who had asked to die.
The verdict fell short of the murder conviction sought by prosecutors, who said Armin Meiwes had killed a Berlin-based computer engineer for sexual pleasure.
Armin Meiwes
Meiwes partly recorded the killing on video which was shown to the court.
The court rejected the defence lawyer's argument that Meiwes should be convicted of "killing on request", a form of illegal euthanasia carrying a far shorter sentence of six months to five years.
Meiwes may be eligible to be released earlier for good behaviour.
Judge Volker Muetze said the deed was "viewed with repulsion in our civilised society" but he said the very clear video evidence showed that Meiwes could not be found guilty of murder.
"Seen legally, this is manslaughter, killing a person without being a murderer," he said.
Meiwes, a well-spoken computer repair man, had shocked the court during his two-month trial with his calm testimony. He showed no emotion as the verdict was read out.
Judged sane and fit to stand trial, Meiwes recounted how his desire to eat another man began in puberty.
He told how he met the victim, a 43-year-old Berlin computer specialist Mr Bernd-Juergen Brandes via the Internet where he had been openly seeking "slaughter victims". A psychological expert who testified said Meiwes was subconsciously trying to consume a human being to fill the void caused by the departure of his father and brother, which left him to care for his domineering mother until her death.
Meiwes's video of the March 2001 killing in his home in Rotenburg near Kassel, persuaded even prosecutors to concede the death was voluntary.
Media and observers were kept outside while the tape was shown to the court in December. One newspaper said a woman almost fainted during the film, which shows Meiwes talking to the severed head while he disembowels the body, hung from a butcher's hook in his slaughter room.
Mr Brandes was eaten alive at his own request. Meiwes's then cut his body into pieces, froze the segments and ate them over a two-moth period.