De Menezes inquest opens three years after London police killing
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, Sept 22, IRNA
UK Inquest-Police Killing
The delayed inquest opened Monday into the mistaken police killing of Brazilian engineer Jean Charles de Menezes at London underground station in July 2005.
The long awaited hearing is expected to lead to the early departure of Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, whose resignation has been called for by the de Menezes family for the last thee years.
Blair was also criticized by the Independent Police Complaints Commission last year for blocking an inquiry into the mistaken shooting.
At the same time, the London Assembly passed a no confidence motion against the commissioner, after he argued that no officer was personally culpable for the mistaken killing.
The inquest was opening with the final selection of jurors at Southwark Crown Court in south London. A total of 50 police officers who have been granted anonymity are to give evidence.
Although Blair himself is not listed as a witness, the family of de Menezes said they are keen to call him. A spokesman for the relatives said they want to know "the truth about how and why Jean Charles was killed, and crucially, if he was killed lawfully." The 27-year old engineer was shot seven times after being seized by two armed anti-terrorism officers while entering Stockwell tube station in south London on July 22, 2005, the day after a series of copycat bombings.
The High Court in London has already found the Metropolitan Police guilty of a series of 'catastrophic errors' leading to the shooting.
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