Wed, 29 Aug 2007
Two years ago the Police shot and killed Jean Charles de Menezes. Since
then the family has been looking for answers and justice.
Justice 4 Jean
organised en event to hear about the continuing struggle for Jean
Charles de Menezes. London Sound Posse recorded the event:
Two
years on - Too long to wait for justice.
No police officer involved in his death has been charged, let alone
convicted and sentenced. The family doesn't even know the names of the
officers involved. The inquest into his death remains adjourned. There
has been no clarification about the use of Operation Kratos and the
police's shoot-to-kill policy (apart from adding ‘to protect’ after its
name).
The Police tried to cover up immediately after the shooting by stating
that Jean was wearing a bulky jacket, jumped over the gate, was acting
suspiciously... All false accusations.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigation
report into the shooting (known as ‘Stockwell One’) has been shared
with the Police but not with the family. One law for the de Menezes
family, one law for the Police. That's the constant message given to
the de Menezes family.
CCTV footage of Jean's last moments in the station is not available
allegedly due to technical problems. Stockwell is a tube station that
is a hub of the British Transport Police just a couple of weeks after
7/7. In the
Every
step you take documentary, Andy Trotter, Deputy
Chief Constable, British Transport Police, keeps harping on about how
CCTV is so essential for his work, but somehow CCTV footage that may
have evidences unsympathetic to the Police keeps not being available or
not being asked in time. How inconvenient.
The IPCC eventually published ‘
Stockwell
Two’. That's the investigation into
complaints about the Metropolitan Police
Service's handling of public statements following the shooting. Even
though it's only about what police officers said in public and not
about the killing, the IPCC backed down under
legal
threat from some officers, and limited its blame to Andy
Hayman. The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) is taking its time
deciding
any ensuing disciplinary procedures (the MPA
promoted
earlier on Cressida Dick, the Officer in charge of the armed
operation).
The trial against the Office of the Commissioner of Police for the
offence under the Health And Safety At Work Act is scheduled for
October at the Old Bailey. The issue of Jean's death is a fundamental
issue. The right to life. The delay of the inquest into his death,
delayed further until the unrelated health and safety matter is
completed, is a continuing violation of his right to life.
In what looks like a sad and desperate further attempt to make it all
go away, the Home Office may not renew the visas of the four cousins
and one friend representing the family in the UK. You can ask your MP
to intervene in their favour.
