Horror film

A state court in Kassel pulled the plug on the 2006 American movie "Rohtenburg" just before it was due to open in German movie theaters. At the time, the lower court found that the movie was too similar to the real-life case of Armin Meiwes and infringed on his personal rights.

Meiwes was convicted of murder for killing and partially eating a 43-year-old Berlin man he had met through the Internet. In a 2001 videotape made of the killing, the victim claimed he was willingly participating in Meiwes' cannibalism fantasy.

Meiwes killed the man in a special room he had built in his house near the small town of Rotenburg in central Germany and ate various body parts, some of which he stored in his freezer. Meiwes insisted that his victim had asked to be killed and that it was a "mercy killing."

Meiwes publicly spoke about his crime

After his arrest, Meiwes was referred to in the German and international media as the "Rotenburg Cannibal." The similarly-named movie "Rohtenburg" has already gone on release in the United States, where it was advertised as being inspired by a "true story that shocked a nation."

In its decision to overturn the ban on Tuesday, Germany's Federal Court of Justice found that supressing the film infringed on director Martin Weisz's artistic freedom and that the ban did not serve the public interest.

The court was also not convinced by Meiwes' claims that the film violated his privacy, considering that Meiwes has participated in interviews about himself and the crime.

th/Reuters/AP/AFP

Editor: Susan Houlton