• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Brazilians Seek Answers in Man's Killing By Police; Citizen Mistaken for Suicide Bomber

Posted on: Tuesday, 23 August 2005, 15:00 CDT

LONDON - Two top Brazilian officials met with London police Monday to learn more about the investigation into the killing of a Brazilian man police mistook for a suicide bomber. A relative of the victim demanded that Prime Minister Tony Blair make sure those responsible were prosecuted.

Pressure has mounted on London's Metropolitan Police and its commissioner, Ian Blair, over allegations of serious failings in the lead-up to Jean Charles de Menezes' death on a subway train. Police shot the electrician July 22, at a time of high security in the British capital following two terrorist attacks.

"We are here to see how the investigation works," Wagner Goncalves, Brazil's deputy attorney general, said on arriving Monday at Heathrow airport with Marcio Pereira Pinto Garcia, a high- ranking Brazilian Justice Ministry official. Goncalves said he did not believe there had been a cover-up in the case.

The Brazilian officials also were to meet with British government representatives and an independent watchdog agency investigating the shooting.

Menezes' death has dominated the British media in recent days. On Monday, about 100 people held a vigil in his honor outside 10 Downing St., where Prime Minister Blair lives and works.

"I'm here today because I believe in truth, and we need to not be fed lies by the police," said Jyoti Sidhe, a 26-year-old student who held a poster calling for the police commissioner's resignation.

Menezes' cousin, Alessandro Pereira, left a letter at No. 10 he said demanded that those "responsible for the murder of Jean" be prosecuted and that officials hold a full public inquiry.

The victim's mother, Maria, told the British Broadcasting Corp. that she wanted the police who shot her son to be punished.

Source: Columbian

More News in this Category