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BERLIN - German prosecutors said Thursday the Canadian porn star accused of the grisly killing and dismemberment of a Chinese student in Montreal last month will likely be extradited by the end of June.
"We hope that he can be extradited by the end of the month," a spokesman for the Berlin public prosecutor's office, Martin Steltner, told AFP following the arrest of Luka Rocco Magnotta in the German capital on Monday.
Steltner said the first official step in the extradition procedure should be taken later Thursday.
"Berlin prosecutors will submit the extradition request for Luka Rocco Magnotta to Berlin's higher regional court, which is to examine whether it complies with the law," he said.
If the court upholds the legality of the request, the public prosecutor would then submit it to the German government for a routine examination of whether the penalty the suspect would face in his home country could violate his human rights, Steltner said.
Germany does not extradite to countries that have the death penalty, which Canada does not.
The 29-year-old Magnotta was picked up in a Berlin Internet cafe looking up online articles about himself after a witness tip ended a 10-day-long international manhunt while he was on the run to Paris and then Berlin.
He is awaiting extradition to face charges in Canada of murdering 33-year-old Chinese student Lin Jun, believed at one point to have been his lover.
Magnotta allegedly filmed himself on the night of May 24-25 killing Lin with a pickaxe and dismembering the body before sending a foot and a hand to the headquarters of Canadian political parties, including the ruling Conservatives.
Canadian police said Wednesday they were probing a macabre new twist in the case after further body parts sent from Montreal turned up at Vancouver schools. It was not immediately clear whether the limbs belonged to Lin.
A torso, which has been identified as belonging to Lin, was discovered in a suitcase outside Magnotta's apartment building, but his head and his second hand and foot were all unaccounted for before Tuesday.
A series of new videos from Magnotta - likely filmed after the murder - have surfaced on the Internet and appear to be authentic, according to police.
In one, posted on the video-sharing site YouTube, a seemingly cavalier Magnotta is seen smoking and says, "what's up and hi to all my fans," while Madonna's song "La Isla Bonita" plays in the background.
Police called the initial video showing the murder "sordid" and said the crime scene was virtually covered in blood.
Lin had been studying computer science in Montreal before his gory death.
His grieving parents, accompanied by his sister and uncle, arrived in Montreal late Tuesday from China to meet with Chinese diplomats, police and university administrators, the Chinese consulate told AFP.
Vancouver police said the packaging and addresses on the boxes sent to two schools there, in the far west of the country, were similar to those on the parcels discovered at the political offices in eastern Canada.
Montreal police spokesman Ian Lafreniere told reporters that a note was included with one package sent to a Vancouver school, as well as one of the packages delivered to Ottawa, but did not discuss the contents of the notes.
After a warrant was issued for Magnotta's arrest, local media reported that a note sent with a severed foot to Conservative Party headquarters indicated that more body parts had been sent in the mail, and that the person who dismembered the victim would kill again.
Magnotta, who has been dubbed the "Canadian Psycho" and the "Butcher of Montreal," fled Canada on May 26, initially to Paris, before boarding a bus to Berlin on Friday.
Canadian authorities said he will face charges of first-degree murder and committing indignities to a body. He is also expected to be charged with publishing and mailing obscene matter to Canadian politicians.
Magnotta, who has worked as a bisexual porn star and as a gay prostitute called "Angel," has changed his name and used several aliases. He had several fraud convictions on his record.
A series of judge-imposed conditions reportedly banned him from owning or using a camera or a computer, and from accessing the Internet.
Germany's daily Bild, reporting on Magnotta's past, said he was a high school graduate who had grown up with his grandparents.
© Copyright (c) AFP
