Man in Poland gets 25-year sentence for murder, cannibalism

WARSAW, Poland (AP) - A court in Poland convicted a man on Monday of instigating a murder in 2002 and participating in subsequent cannibalism and handed him a 25-year prison term.

The body of the victim was never found and his identity isn't known. But the court in Szczecin, in northwest Poland, gave credence to the testimony of one of the defendants and to their phone conversations, which were bugged by investigators.

The court said that five men abducted an unidentified man after a dispute at a bar with the main defendant, identified only as Robert M., in the village of Lasko.

At Robert M.'s instigation, one of the men killed the captive man and all five then sealed a pact of silence by cannibalizing the body.

Robert M. denies this ever took place and said he was 'œsurprised'ť by the verdict. His lawyers say they will appeal.

The story surfaced years later when some of them started talking about it in public after drinking alcohol.

Four of the men were arrested in 2017, but the one suspected of committing the murder died months before the arrests.

Charges of desecration of the body have expired under the statute of limitations, leading to only the main instigator, Robert M., being sentenced on Monday.