A Canadian man accused of dismembering his Chinese lover and mailing the body parts to schools and political parties around the country admitted to the killing but pleaded not guilty Monday, according to Reuters.
His lawyer said he is schizophrenic and not criminally responsible in his opening remarks at the trial, Reuters reported.
Luka Magnotta, 32, who faces five charges in connection with the 2012 slaying of engineering student Jun Lin, appeared before a jury and Quebec Superior Court Justice Guy Cournoyer, according to Reuters.
The case shocked Canadians due to its gruesome content and gained media attention after body parts arrived at offices of Canada's biggest political parties and a video appeared online that prosecutors say shows Magnotta stabbing and having sex with the dismembered corpse, Reuters reported.
The judge said the jury must determine Magnotta's mental fitness at the time of the killing, according to Reuters.
Defense attorney Luc Leclair told the court that Magnotta is a diagnosed schizophrenic and "has admitted the physical acts for each of the offenses," Reuters reported.
In May 2012, a package containing a severed foot was found at the headquarters of Canada's ruling Conservative Party, according to Reuters. Later that day, a hand was discovered at a postal facility, in a package addressed to the Liberal Party of Canada.
Lin's torso was found in a suitcase at a garbage dump outside Magnotta's apartment building in Montreal, Reuters reported.
About a week later, the missing foot and hand were found mailed to two schools in Vancouver, according to Reuters. Magnotta eventually was arrested in Berlin after an international manhunt.
"The issue of whether Mr. Magnotta is exempt from criminal responsibility will be the issue you will have to deliberate on," Leclair said, Reuters reported.
His defense will fight a murder charge and four others: committing an indignity to a body; publishing obscene material; criminally harassing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other members of Parliament; and mailing obscene and indecent materials, according to Reuters.
