Monday, February 20, 2006

Police may face prosecution over Menezes shooting


Dead - Menezes shot by armed police
Police officers involved in the shooting of an innocent civilian in July 2005 may face charges of perverting the course of justice. The Independent on Sunday newspaper in the UK carried the story on its front page and was later picked up by Xinhua
news and the Daily Telegraph. But the report into the shooting is likely to take months according to the Telegraph, which went on to say that investigators had already found alleged evidence of “blatant and clumsy attempts” to change a log entry after the shooting of the Brazilian electrician. Jean Charles de Menezes was shot in the head at least 7 times by armed police at Stockwell underground station on 22nd July after surveillance officers mistakenly identified him as Hussein Osman, a suspected suicide bomber. Osman had been wanted in connection with the failed attacks on London’s transport system the previous day. He was later located in Italy and extradited to Britain.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) report reveals that a log was changed so that it read: "And it was not Osman" instead of "it was Osman". This meant that surveillance officers could claim the marksmen had shot dead the wrong man despite having been warned that he was not who they had thought. Posted by Picasa

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