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Cannibal Case Exposed
Chilling Web Culture

By Kevin McElderry
The Saturday Star - South Africa
1-31-4
 
KASSEL (Sapa-AFP) -- The trial of a German cannibal - jailed for manslaughter on Friday after killing and eating an apparently willing victim - has given a chilling insight into a secret world of extreme fetishism.
 
Armin Meiwes was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in jail for fulfilling his dream of cannibalism and what the judges agreed was his victim's wish for "the ultimate kick".
 
But without the Internet, it might never have got so far.
 
"The deed would not have happened like that without the Internet," Meiwes' lawyer, Harald Ermel, said afterwards. "It would have stayed in the realms of fantasy."
 
Presiding judge Volker Muetze, passing sentence in Kassel, central Germany, spoke of a barely believable online sub-culture. "This trial has opened the door to a world that one is tempted immediately to shut again."
 
Meiwes met Bernd Juergen Brandes after advertising on a cannibal website under the pseudonym Franky for someone ready to be killed and eaten. Brandes coincidentally advertised as a willing sacrifice.
 
Their two fantasies - Meiwes of cannibalism, Brandes of extreme masochism followed by death - became gruesome reality in Meiwes' idyllic hometown of Rotenburg.
 
Cannibalism has spanned centuries and cultures. Seen by some as a religious rite, by others as revenge and by still others as a means of survival, it is a taboo in modern society. Yet investigators who trawled through Meiwes' 16 computers and about 2 000 disks were stunned at the scale of the cannibal scene. He said there were thousands like him. "You can be sure many have not just remained in the realm of fantasy."
 
Meiwes was in contact with more than 200 people. Most wanted to be victims, others to be tortured, a detective testified.
 
Meanwhile the site Meiwes advertised is going strong.
 
"Seeking young female flesh to torture and later to eat," a certain Freddy wrote recently.
 
"What young man up to 40, slim, wants to be slaughtered for real by a slim butcher aged 30? Mail with photo and your slaughter fantasy," asked another.
 
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