GERMANY: German cannibal Mr Armin Meiwes could soon join fictional man-eater Hannibal Lecter on the silver screen if he accepts one of the numerous film offers he has received, his lawyer said yesterday, writes Derek Scally in Berlin
Mr Meiwes, on trial for killing and eating 43-year-old engineer Bernd Brandes two years ago, is already working on his memoirs.
A German pathologist testified in the third day of the trial yesterday that Brandes was still alive when his throat was cut and died a "tortuous" death from the gash.
Mr Meiwes (42) grinned frequently when a closed court viewed videos earlier this week of the gruesome killing which came about after Brandes replied to an Internet personal advert from Mr Meiwes seeking "well-built young men for slaughter".
"For him this is all perfectly normal," said Ms Rosemarie Lange, one of the officials in the Kassel court to view the video.
"I thought I was in a morgue. Even some of the men had to look away."
The videos made by Mr Meiwes show how Brandes moved his head slightly before his throat was cut.
Afterward, a large quantity of blood sprayed from his throat, further proof he was still alive, said pathologist Dr Manfred Risse.
Mr Meiwes rejected the pathologist's claim and held up a beaker of water in the courtroom to demonstrate how little Brandes bled. "It was 75 millilitres of blood," he said.
Establishing when and how Brandes died is crucial: the prosecution says Brandes was still alive when his throat was cut and that Mr Meiwes is guilty of "murder for sexual gratification", a charge that carries a life sentence.
Mr Meiwes said yesterday he did not know at the time he cut his throat that Brandes was alive.
His defence says he is therefore guilty of the lesser charge of "murder on demand", a form of euthanasia, that carries up to five years.
Dr Risse said Brandes consumed a high-alcohol cold remedy, half a bottle of schnapps and 20 sleeping pills. But even that cocktail would not have been enough to numb the pain, he said.
Mr Harald Ermel, Mr Meiwes's lawyer, yesterday criticised media coverage that he said painted his client as a monster.
"No matter what he does it always comes across wrong," said Mr Ermel.
He said that Mr Meiwes did not force Brandes to do anything. If Mr Meiwes hadn't killed him, Brandes would certainly have travelled to the US where he would have found three people to "slaughter" him, he said.
Germans should lighten up, according to their president who says he is fed up with seeing his compatriots looking grumpy and grim-faced.
"Germans sometimes leave a general impression of being broody," President Johannes Rau said yesterday in a briefing with the Foreign Press Association.
He said the looks on their faces at times makes him think they're suffering indigestion.
"Germans walk around looking as if they have too much gastric acid," said Mr Rau (72), who retires in 2004 after five years as head of state. "I wish they'd relax more."
Mr Rau has often admonished Germans during his five-year term for moaning and whingeing too much.
"I often complain there is too much self-pity in Germany," Mr Rau said.
"Germans tend to pay not enough attention to what is happening in other continents and other countries.
"I wish we'd would be more confident in a modest way."
- (Reuters)