'The conviction only for manslaughter and not for murder does not stand up to legal review,' Germany's federal court of justice said today in a statement, upholding an appeal by prosecutors that Meiwes had killed to satisfy perverted desires. He admitted in an interview with Stern magazine before his trial to cooking parts of Brandes' body with olive oil, garlic and pepper and eating them with sprouts and a bottle of South African red wine. The next afternoon he set about cutting off some of Brandes' body parts, which he stored in his freezer. At 3.30am, Meiwes stabbed an unconscious Brandes to death, videotaping the entire episode. Brandes then took 20 sleeping tablets and a bottle of Vick's cold cure. Later that evening, Meiwes cut off Brandes' penis and fried for them both to eat, but the two found it unpalatable.
Computer engineer Brandes answered an advert Meiwes had placed on the internet asking for a victim and, in March 2001, travelled by train to his timbered farmhouse in Rotenburg, central Germany. The two-month trial shocked the world with its gory details of cannibalistic fetishism.
