“We demand a full and speedy public inquiry into Jean’s murder. We believe that the web of deceit that was spun by the Metropolitan Police means that Sir Iain Blair’s position is now untenable and he should resign immediately. Furthermore we believe that it is inconceivable that the Home Office and government were not aware of these circumstances. They failed not only to counter the lies in the public domain but actively counselled against Jean by press releasing details of his visa status on the day of his funeral” - Justice for Jean campaign

Following leaks from inside the IPCC inquiry the mainstream media has finally grown suspicious of police actions surrounding the killing of Jean Charles Menezes on a tube train on July 22nd. Leaks from the inquiry have provided a picture very different from that initially provided by police.

Furthermore, it would appear that the Met are actively attempting to intimidate Menezes’ family from demanding a public inquiry. SchNEWS has learned of a campaign of outright obstruction to the family’s involvement in the inquiry, including an attempt to buy them off.

The leaked witness statements from the inquiry published in the mainstream press are damning enough. They demonstrate that the Met’s initial reaction was damage limitation and concern for reputation rather than any attempt to obtain the truth. Ian Blair (Commissioner of the Met) repeatedly fed the press a diet of outright falsehoods. We learned that Jean Charles was running, had vaulted a ticket barrier and refused to stop when challenged. In some news accounts he was wearing a bulky jacket with wires protruding, and no overt denials of this were made by police. We now know that he didn’t run, didn’t jump the tube, wasn’t challenged and was executed by two officers, while another pinned his arms to his sides. He was placed under surveillance by an officer who had left the army a year ago. SchNEWS reckons a year is quite a short time for a beat bobby to be promoted to an anti-terrorist unit. How many other soldiers have been fast-tracked into London’s anti-terrorist police we wonder? These lies were propagated for weeks after the killing, long after the police must have known they were wrong. Police press releases peddled lies while the real evidence was suppressed.

In a clear sign of a cover up, Ian Blair delayed the entry of the Independent Police Complaints Commission into the investigation for six days. Police obstruction of scrutiny is nothing new. The years it took the Lawrences, the Stanley family etc etc to gain even a glimmer of justice are evidence of that. This time however, the stakes are higher than one family’s justice. The shooting of Jean Charles calls into question how the ‘war on terror’ will be fought on the domestic front. Already the right-wing press is calling for all firearms officers to be exonerated from criminal charges - i.e State sanctioned death squads. The Menezes’ case calls into question not only Operation Kratos and ‘shoot to kill’ but the whole raft of anti-terror policies and the current attack on civil liberties.

The establishment approach to the inquiry has been to sweep the matter under the carpet and substitute a version of events more useful to their agenda. The public perception was meant to be that a regrettable accident had occurred, but perhaps Menezes was in many ways culpable. That story is now lies shattered.
TUBEWAY BARMY

One major obstacle to their approach has been the public sympathy for Jean Charles’ family. There have been solidarity demonstrations both here and Brazil. A broad swathe of the public can empathise as easily with a young man gunned down on a tube as they can with the victims of the 7/7 bombings. Just like terrorists, the police are now to be feared as the agents of random death. In short the case has turned into a public relations disaster for the government’s policy on terrorism.

The Justice for Jean campaign still have a number of unanswered questions and are outraged at the revelations of a cover up. They are demanding a public inquiry. Among the questions they want answered are:

* ”Where did a “shoot to kill” policy emanate from and on what claimed legal basis? What public debate and democratic accountability surrounded the coming into being of that policy?”
* Why was the pathologist at the post mortem conducted on July 27th (at which senior investigating police officers were present) told the following: “This man’s death occurred as part of the emergency relating to the planting of bombs on public transport in London. On the morning of the 22 July 2005 he was pursued by armed police officers as a result of surveillance. He was followed into Stockwell Tube Station where he vaulted over the ticket barrier. He ran downstairs and onto a tube train where it appears that he stumbled. The officers then immobilised him and a number of shots were fired. At the present time I am not sure as to any further details.”
* ”What CCTV footage from Stockwell underground station and the underground train exists? If there is none, why is there none?”

The family are also voicing concern about the processes of the inquiry. They are demanding to know:

* Are police officers, including those who fired the shots, making statements as witnesses or as potential suspects i.e. are those interviews being conducted under caution.
* At what levels police officers, including senior police officers, are being interviewed and whether they are under caution or not. Who is being interviewed and by whom?
* Do these include senior police, past and present who appeared to believe, wrongly, that they were entitled to order a blanket “shoot to kill” practice.

These and other questions, if asked and answered in public as Jean Charles’ family wish, will surely shed light on areas of domestic policy concerning civil liberties, the militarization of the police and the ‘war on terror’ that Blair & Co. would prefer shrouded. It should come as no surprise then to learn that police reaction to the families demand to be part of the inquiry into the death of their brother and son has been unremittingly obstructive. The police’s initial interaction with the family was at the Brazilian Consulate, on the Monday after the shooting where attempts were made to get the family to leave Britain with no fuss. A Brazilian diplomat lobbied by the Met said “There has been no human rights violation, this is not a human rights issue, the police have apologised. They’re going to give you compensation, so what’s the problem?”

SchNEWS has also learned that six representatives of the Metropolitan Police travelled to the village of Gonzaga in Brazil to offer the family a substantial sum of money in return for their silence.

After the police seized Jean Charles’ house for investigation his family were placed in a hotel in Richmond selected by the police. Here they were held effectively incommunicado and denied phone calls to Brazil.

Despite this, the Menezes family is determined to seek justice and have refused to be bought off. The family campaign is several thousand pounds in debt; all the money thus far has been donated by a handful of activists and friends. If you can help in any way please send cheques made payable to Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign, PO Box 273, london, E7 or transfer money to Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign, Account Number: 61455664, sort code: 40-07-12. HSBC bank, 349 Green St, London, E13 PA5. Contact  justice4jean@hotmail.co.uk 07931 337890 or 07956 210332

There will be a protest outside Downing Street - Monday 22nd August at 6pm called by Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign. More info contact numbers above.

See  http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news508.htm for this and the rest of this week's issue.