Warning: If you haven’t heard about it, this is some disturbing shit. If you’re sqeamish, don’t read any more. If you can handle pretty much anything, read on.
So, this guy, Armin Meiwes, decides to act on a lifelong obsession; he wants to eat somebody. Being a techno-saavy guy, he puts up an add on the internet: I want to eat a well-built man. If you’re interested, let’s have dinner.
Turns out, somebody actually takes him up on it. Bernd-Juergen Brandes bought a one way ticket, met with Meiwes for an evening, and the two agreed to start the meal. Meiwes drugged Brandes, and cut off his penis and flambeed it. The two ate Brandes’ penis together, and, after Brandes passed out, Meiwes killed him, and cut him up into schnitzel. All of this was recorded on video tape for posterity. Over the following weeks, the bulk of Herr Brandes was consumed; he “tasted of pork”.
Eventually somebody turned Meiwes in; he readily confessed and provided any and all evidence needed to close the case against him. Thing is, what case? Turns out, cannibalism isn’t illegal in Germany. Not only that, due to the consensual nature of the act, the defense actually had a good argument that Meiwes was legally responsible only for “killing by request”, which carries a maximum 5-year sentence.
The prosecution wanted life for murder and “disturbing the peace of the dead”, but it was not to be: Meiwes got manslaugter, and 8.5 years max in prison.
OK, I don’t care how nice the guy was to his neighbors, we’re talking about one seriously sick individual. Heaven only knows what would have become of him in the states (one wonders…Texas?..is there an express line on death row?), but it sure as flaming Hell wouldn’t have been eight lousy years.
Well, Germany certainly has changed. I guess it’s a much more humane place than, oh, say about 60 years ago. Now there appears to be a new sort of madness, though I don’t know what to call it. Is this just a judicial SNAFU? Lack of legal forsight? I mean, can it really be true that “oh, so he AGREED to be killed, butchered, and eaten? Well, that’s not so bad, now, is it?” Could this really be a proper verdict?