‘AS Jean’s mother I have felt immense pain,’ Maria Otone de Menezes told a packed public meeting in London on Monday night.
The meeting was called to launch the Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign for a ‘full judicial public inquiry’ into the police killing of the young Brazilian.
De Menezes, a 27-year-old innocent electrician, was shot dead seven times in the head while being restrained in a Tube train carriage at Stockwell, south west London on July 22nd 2005.
The campaign is also calling for an end of the police ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy and for Jean Charles’ police killers to face criminal charges.
His mother Maria added: ‘I wish a young worker who is going to work will not be killed again.
‘I believe with all my heart if we stand together young workers will not be killed again.
‘If we come together we can change the situation and change the law in this country, which is a negative law.
‘I ask your help. As a mother I don’t want any other mother to suffer as I am suffering now.’
Brother of Jean Charles, Giovani da Silva told the meeting: ‘I along with my family am happy to be at this meeting for a just cause.’
He added: ‘Thank you for all your support.
‘I wish this suffering we are going through should never happen to other families.
‘That this suffering ends now.’
Cousin Alex Pereira said: ‘It’s not easy being here. Once I had a brother, but there is no going back. I have a lot of friends here and I thank them for their support.’
Cousin Patricia da Silva-Armani told the meeting: ‘What we want is justice. Everything is secret up to now. Nobody is answering our questions. It is very difficult.
‘We want to know why did Jean die in such a cruel way.
‘It is very hard to get answers to the questions we have been asking.
‘But we won’t give up.
‘We want the criminal justice process to be carried out.’
The meeting was attended by families of others who died at the hands of the state.
Irene Stanley, whose husband Harry was shot in Hackney, east London, when officers said they mistook a wooden chair leg he was carrying in a plastic bag for a sawn-off shotgun, said that police still killed unarmed, innocent people.
She told the meeting: ‘It is six years on. With Harry dying it didn’t stop, it still continues.’
Terry Stewart of the Justice for Harry Stanley Campaign advised the family: ‘Don’t expect much from the courts.
‘The police lie. They get together and compare notes. When they are found out in a lie, along comes the CIA – critical incident amnesia – they can’t remember anything.’
Susan Alexander’s son, Azelle Rodney, was killed as he sat in the back of a car stopped by police officers in Edgware Road, north London, in April.
She said: ‘We have been supporting your family because it was the same thing that happened to my son.
‘He was 24,’ she added, alleging: ‘He was shot seven times in the head with no warning.
‘He was shot on the 24th April, long before July 7th.
‘There were a lot of false press releases. They didn’t know who he was when they were surveilling him.
‘They didn’t know who he was when they shot him.
‘My son has no criminal record. It’s the same pattern of events. We lack confidence in the IPCC (Independent Police Complaints Commission).
‘We want to know why the shoot-to-kill policy was brought in.
‘We want suspension of the officer who shot my son – he’s still on holiday.
‘We have come on your demonstrations to support you and we will continue to be there.’
The de Menezes family’s lawyer, Gareth Peirce, said from the beginning: ‘The family knew everything that was being said (by the police) had been a lie.
‘He was not an appropriate suspect.
‘He did not run from the bus. He did not jump over the ticket barrier. He did not wear a bulky jacket.’
She insisted: ‘It cannot be lawful to execute an innocent man in the street.’
Turning to the latest government ‘anti-terror’ proposals, Peirce said: ‘We don’t need more legislation.
‘The question is, are the police behaving properly?’
She alleged: ‘In secret, without debate, there is a lot more happening that is a lot more sinister.
‘The senior police commissioner is boasting “I brought in the shoot-to-kill policy”.
‘It is not the only covert policy.
‘They are going to use evidence that is obtained by torture.
‘On the basis of diplomatic assurances, we’re sending people to countries that we know are torturing people.’
Peirce concluded: ‘We say to the family we apologise for what happened to Jean.
‘We are saying don’t let it happen to anyone else.’
Human rights campaigner Bianca Jagger told the meeting: ‘It is important to speak out against the killing of an innocent man and the shoot-to-kill policy.
‘The prime minister wants to convince us that the terrorists today are different than September 11th.
‘He says therefore the means to tackle them must be different.
‘The UK government doesn’t see the need to have a political debate before introducing the shoot-to-kill policy.
‘This is the equivalent to the Bush pre-emptive strike policy.
‘We must not give up our freedoms to defend our freedoms.
‘If we give the state forces unlimited licence, we will have let the terrorists win.
‘Over the years, the state forces have killed the wrong people.
‘Prime minister Blair has brought back the death penalty without having a debate.
‘A shoot-to-kill policy is capital punishment by the back door. All they need to do is think someone is guilty.’
Livio Zille of Amnesty International said: ‘We want justice for the family.
‘But we also need justice, so that any similar incidents are not repeated.
‘The IPCC investigation must be prompt, thorough and independent.
‘It must be capable of establishing whether there was any wrongdoing by any individuals.
‘We were concerned that the Metropolitan Police sought to block the taking over of the investigation by the IPCC.
‘This means the investigation may be compromised. For at least three days, it was not under the IPCC.’
Calling for a probe into any cover-up, Zille condemned ‘the reticence of the IPCC for not telling the public that they were not in charge of the investigation for the first three days’.
Asad Rehman for the De Menezes Family Campaign told the meeting: ‘Jean’s death was the death of an innocent man.
‘It has been subject to lie after lie.
‘We have here families of people who died in custody.
‘Not a single officer has been prosecuted.’
Rehman added: ‘Jean walked into Stockwell Tube station, he picked up a free paper, he used his Oyster card and went down onto the station.
‘He gets into the Tube, he is pinned down and eleven shots were fired – seven to the head, one to the shoulder and three missed.
‘It was thirty hours later before the police told the family that they had murdered Jean.
‘The real investigation only begins five days later.
‘How much evidence has been lost? How much CCTV is missing.
‘We know on the 21st July they took CCTV pictures of suspected bombers, yet we’ve been told that there may not be enough CCTV footage of Jean’s death.
‘Why did the IPCC allow the Metropolitan Police take control of Stockwell Tube?
‘We hope they are not susceptible to pressure from the Home Office not to try the officers responsible – not only those who pulled the trigger but also those who gave the orders.
‘We demand an end to the shoot-to-kill policy.’
