Jean Charles De Menezes
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Jean Charles De Menezes (born 1978) was a Brazilian migrant electrician who was shot and killed by armed officers at Stockwell Tube station on 22 July 2005 after being mistaken as one of the four 21/7 suicide bombers.
He was shot 7 times in the head and once in the shoulder at point-blank range. Nobody has ever been held responsible for his death.[1]
His death was the first under the 2001 Operation Kratos strategy.
The death and reporting of the tragedy of Menezes' shooting, argued his lawyers, was wrapped in a shroud of misinformation.[2]
Defence of Shooting
Sir Ian Blair, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, defended the shooting of Menezes by stating that if the police did not shoot him, they would have faced the risk of “certain death.”[3]
Ian Blair wrote to the Home Office permanent Secretary Sir John Gieve one day after Menezes was killed and stated that he sought to “maximise the legal protection for officers” who were exercising shoot-to-kill powers. He stated that the environment that faced officers meant that they could not “risk the kind of containment and negotiation tactics” that would be normally expected of them. The only choice an officer may have may be to shoot-to-kill in order to prevent the detonation of a device.”Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag In other words, Menezes was shot 8 times even though he had been restrained by a police officer.
According to the surveillance officers account that restrained him:
"I heard shouting which included the word 'police' and turned to face the [Menezes] in the denim jacket … [Menezes] immediately stood up and advanced towards me and the [armed officers] ... I grabbed [Menezes] in the denim jacket by wrapping both my arms around his torso, pinning his arms to his side. I then pushed him back on to the seat where he had been previously sitting ... I then heard a gunshot very close to my left ear and was dragged away on to the floor of the carriage." [4]
Resources
- Justice for Jean campaign website
- Letter from Sir Ian Blair to Home Office Permanent Secretary Sir John Gieve relating to the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes
Notes
- ↑ The Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign, accessed 06.09.10
- ↑ Harriet Wistrich and Gareth Peirce, Press Statement 2: Response to the evidence made public during the last 24 hours as to the true circumstances of the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, 17 August 2005, accessed 06.09.10
- ↑ Gordon Rayner, ‘The shot Brazilian was here with a fake visa’, The Daily Mail, 29 July 2005, accessed via LexisNexis on 06.09.10
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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