De Menezes killers go free

[faceless]

Menezes family lose court battle
The family of Jean Charles de Menezes have lost their High Court battle over a decision not to charge any police officers in connection with his death. Brazilian Mr de Menezes, 27, was shot by police who mistook him for a suicide bomber on the London Tube last year.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said there was "insufficient evidence" to prosecute any of 15 officers probed. Three senior High Court judges dismissed the family's challenge to the CPS decision "on all grounds". Electrician Mr de Menezes was shot at Stockwell tube station, south London, on 22 July, a day after an alleged attempt to detonate bombs on London's transport network and two weeks after the 7 July terror attacks. His family's lawyers said at a two-day hearing that "the rule of law would be undermined" if no individual officer was held personally accountable. They called for officers to be prosecuted for murder or gross-negligence manslaughter.

Lord Justice Richards, sitting with Mr Justice Forbes and Mr Justice Mackay, ruled it was a "reasonable" decision for the Director of Public Prosecutions and the CPS not to order prosecutions on the basis that they were "likely to fail". In a written judgment the court declared there had been no violation of human rights. The family's lawyers later said they were "very disappointed" and would seek an appeal to the House of Lords.

The CPS decided against individual prosecutions but the office of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner will be prosecuted under the Health and Safety at Work Act. If found guilty, the Met would face an unlimited fine. Michael Mansfield QC, appearing for the family, accused the CPS of "usurping the role of a jury". Jonathan Crow QC, acting for the CPS, said he sympathised with the family but that the police believed at the time Mr de Menezes posed a threat and they were acting in self defence.

Outside the court Mr de Menezes cousin Patricia Armani da Silva said the family's battle "will never stop". "Today is a sad day for my family. I am heartbroken. We believe the judges came to the wrong decision," she said. "We were shocked to hear all the new evidence that was revealed in court over the two-day hearing. We heard how the police made mistake after mistake on the day they killed my cousin." She added: "We will continue fighting for justice until someone is held responsible for my cousin's murder."

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I'm sure there's a good few people on that underground train who would provide evidence that the guy wasn't a threat to anyone, let alone the police - at least after the second or third bullet had passed through his skull.

Even if those cops did believe their lives were at threat, someone must have given the order to treat him as a threat, and if they didn't have powerful evidence to that effect then that person should be charged with manslaughter at the very least.

[eefanincan]

I can't imagine being in a situation like this. I think it only takes one person to perceive someone as a threat, they start making a fuss, get everyone else excited and before you know it, people are shooting, in an uproar, etc.

It'll be interesting to see if the family take this any further.

[faceless]

You make a good point for sure, but they'd followed this guy from his front door and even though they later claimed he was running and behaving suspiciously it turned out he wasn't at all.

I hope the family have the money to keep this going until it's resolved fairly - and I've a feeling there's plenty of people ready to help them do just that.

[Skylace]

I really do hope they do get to keep this going. What happened was terrible and totally uncalled for. My heart goes out to all of them.

[janbo1960]

This was a case of state sanctioned murder... pinochet on a smaller scale.

[faceless]

I'm seeing a headline on News 24 saying that the cops who murdered John Charles De Menezes are to be admonished. There's a surprise eh? Bastards the lot of them - holding an innocent man down on the ground, then shooting him five times is acceptable under British law... then again, they've done it enough in the past (such as in cases with alleged IRA members).

[luke]

are you really surprised?

they knew before they shot him that he wasn't a bomber

i also thought it was more than 5 times?

[faceless]

nah, my surprise was sarcastic... Sadly I didn't expect any of them to be held accountable.

[major.tom]

I used to think British police were among the best in the world (if not *the* best). Then I saw In the Name of the Father, which prompted me to follow up on the story of the Guildford Four.

Now little surprises me.

I was in London last autumn. The police I encountered seemed friendly and helpful. Hard to imagine that they could be so cold-blooded (and apparently unrepentant).

Sad, but not surprising.

[faceless]

Police in court over de Menezes shooting
Mirror.co.uk 01/10/2007
The Metropolitan Police went on trial today over the killing of innocent Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station. The 27-year-old was gunned down by two police officers as he boarded a train on July 22, 2005, in the aftermath of the July terrorist bombings in central London.

The Met are charged with alleged health and safety failures in the way they carried out their duties that day. They deny the allegations. Clare Montgomery, prosecuting, told a jury at the Old Bailey that Mr de Menezes’s death was caused by “fundamental failures” in police planning.

She said the "disaster" of the Brazilian electrician's death was not the result of a fast-moving operation going suddenly and unpredictably awry. "It was,” she said, “the result of fundamental failures to carry out a planned operation in a safe and reasonable way.”

Police followed Mr de Menzes from the block of flats where he lived as he travelled to Stockwell Tube station. Miss Montgomery added: "He was shot a number of times quite deliberately in the head and he died immediately. He was not involved in terrorism in any way."

She said the allegation against police was that they carried out the investigation and pursuit of a suspected suicide bomber "in such a way that the public were exposed to the possibility of danger. The shooting of Jean Charles was a shocking and catastrophic error. His death could have been avoided if the defendant had fulfilled the duty owed to all members of the public to avoid exposing them to unnecessary risks to their health and safety. The prosecution say that the duty was breached in a number of ways."

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I'm sure if they're found guilty that Menezes' family will be delighted to hear that they got a fine for his death... if they're even found guilty.

[luke]

bit more detail in the times

[luke]

[faceless]

he's the unknown stuntman that made Blair look such a star...

[Mandy]

mmm .. cold blooded murder by Mossad trained trigger happy policemen.

FYI, additional postings on this thread don't seem to show up.

I just posted that the following BBC report doesn't mention that the bullets used are illegal in warfare

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk/7045122.stm

Whilst this older report from The Telegraph does mention it :

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/16/nmenez16.xml

[Mandy]

This BBC report doesn't mention that the bullets are illegal in Warfare ..