BRITAIN: One year on, no justice for de Menezes

According to the July 15 London Guardian, "No individual police officers involved in the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes will face prosecution over his death. The Crown Prosecution Service has ruled out murder or manslaughter charges after a review of the circumstances surrounding the killing of the innocent Brazilian." De Menezes was shot in cold blood and at point-blank range by armed police as he travelled to work on the London underground on July 22, 2005. The police suggested initially that he had links with terrorist groups, but it turned out that he was completely innocent and had no such connections. The Guardian continued: "The CPS decision is certain to anger the de Menezes family, who had pressed for charges to be brought against individual officers." The paper quoted Harriet Wistrich, a solicitor acting on behalf of the de Menezes family as saying, "They would like to see officers held to account on a personal level, for somebody to be charged with a homicide offence".

From Green Left Weekly, July 19, 2006.

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From GLW issue 675