Rocco Luka Magnotta is shown in a photo from his website.
Montreal police are examining whether charges are warranted against the man who runs a website that hosted a video believed to show the defiling of Concordia student Lin Jun's corpse.
The Edmonton-based site, a collection of gory images showing the aftermath of car accidents, executions and attacks, was the first to post the video alleged to have been shot by suspected murderer Luka Magnotta in his Montreal apartment.
Mr. Magnotta was arrested Monday in Berlin and will be extradited to Canada. Montreal police, who say their investigation into Mr. Lin's death was one of their biggest efforts yet, are working also with their counterparts in Edmonton on the question of the video. They are considering a charge of publishing obscene material.
"We do have a video that was posted on the web," Montreal Commander Ian Lafreniere told a press conference Tuesday. "For us, we believe it's the right one, but now we have to prove it, so [there are] some legal issues also about this."
Mark Marek, the man behind the site, has defended himself by saying the material at Best Gore is a cold dose of reality and not "some fantasy world." He notes that viewers at the site had analyzed the video and were pointing the finger at Mr. Magnotta before police named him as a suspect.
Mr. Marek says that he has been inundated with media requests. He claims not to own a phone and has taken to posting a sampling of what he says are his email responses to questions he has been asked.
"Would you not rather know that the man who lives next to you is not that nice, quiet boy who's friends with your kids, but a murderer with shady past?," he wrote in one such response. "If exposing a murderer for whom he is and bringing his actions to the attention of the public and the police is a crime, then I better get put in jail."
Mr. Marek says that his site shows the reality of people's actions and could motivate people such as drunk drivers to change their behaviour.
The video Montreal police believe could warrant charges shows a person mutilating what appears to be a human corpse. There is sexual interference with the body and cannibalism is implied. The video does not provide a clear shot of the perpetrator's face.
The footage has been mirrored by a number of other websites beyond the reach of Canadian law enforcement. Experts say it is extremely unlikely that the video can be rendered inaccessible now that it has spread.
Oliver Moore