‘Today is the first day of the process which will hopefully bring my family closer to the truth,’ cousin of Jean Charles De Menezes, Patricia da Silva Armani said in a short statement outside the Oval, where the young Brazilian’s inquest is taking place.
Standing with cousins Alex and Alessandro Pereira, she continued: ‘We are hoping that at the end of the inquest, we will get the answers we need about how my cousin died.’
She added: ‘It will be a long and painful period for us but we will be here until the end to get to the truth and get justice for Jean.’
Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, was shot dead on 22 July 2005 at Stockwell Tube station, south London, by firearms police, who put seven bullets into his head at point blank range while he was held down in a Tube carriage.
The inquest jury will consider whether or not Jean Charles de Menezes was unlawfully killed.
The jury will hear from two officers who fired the fatal shots, the first time their accounts will have been heard.
In his opening statement, coroner Sir Michael Wright warned jurors to concentrate on the evidence alone.
The first day yesterday saw former High Court judge Wright, assistant deputy coroner for Inner South London, swear in the jury.
He told the jurors: ‘It is for you, the jury, to determine the facts of this fatality and that task will be yours and yours alone.’
He stressed: ‘It must be stated at the outset of this inquest with the greatest possible emphasis that in truth Mr de Menezes was in no way associated with bombs, explosions or any form of terrorism.’
Wright cautioned the jury that rules prevented them from reaching verdicts which appeared to ‘determine any question of criminal liability on the part of a named person, or any question of civil liability at all’.
On the day of his police killing, teams of undercover officers had trailed de Menezes across south London after he left flats being watched for one of the 21/7 bombing suspects.
Coroner Wright outlined the role of police units involved in the operation, including the SO12 surveillance and CO19 firearms teams.
The jury will hear from some 75 witnesses including Tube passengers and 48 serving police officers who have been granted anonymity, although jurors will be able to see them.