MONTREAL (AFP) - "Canadian Psycho" Luka Rocco Magnotta will appeal his conviction and life sentence for murdering a Chinese student and sexually abusing and dismembering his corpse, according to court papers obtained on Monday.

The 32-year-old initially admitted killing Lin Jun in May 2012 but then pleaded not guilty at trial in one of the most sensational homicide cases in the annals of Canadian justice.

A jury delivered its unanimous decision on Dec 23 after eight days of deliberation, the culmination of a three-month trial in which Magnotta's mental health was questioned.

His notice of appeal to the court states the verdict is "unreasonable and unsupported by the evidence," and accuses the judge of erring in his instructions to the jury.

His lawyers are seeking a retrial.

During the trial, defence lawyers said Magnotta was "insane" and required psychiatric treatment, not jail.

But prosecutors argued that it was all an act and that the killing was planned at least six months in advance, and rehearsed days prior to Lin's grisly death.

"He wanted to be famous or infamous," Crown lawyer Louis Bouthillier told the court.

After killing Lin, Magnotta posted a video of the heinous act online.

Days later, Montreal police discovered the victim's torso in a suitcase by the trash outside an apartment building along a busy highway.

Lin's severed hands and feet were sent in the mail to federal political parties in Ottawa and to two elementary schools in Vancouver. The head was found in a Montreal park months later.

Magnotta fled Canada but was arrested in Germany in June 2012, following an international manhunt, and extradited. He was arrested in a Berlin Internet cafe, after stops in France and elsewhere in Germany.

Born Eric Clinton Newman, the one-time porn actor changed his name to Magnotta in 2006 after years of using aliases such as Vladimir Romanov, or Angel.

The media dubbed him the "Canadian Psycho" after it was discovered that the soundtrack from the movie "American Psycho" was playing in the background of the video of the murder that was posted online.