Family of de Menezes urges court to charge officers

THE family of a Brazilian electrician mistakenly shot dead by British anti-terrorist police last year has urged an appeal court to force prosecutors to charge the officers involved in his killing.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decision in July not to charge any officers over the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes was “a violation” of the human rights of his family, a family lawyer argued before the High Court in London yesterday.

“The rule of law is undermined” if no individual is held personally accountable for his death, said the lawyer, Michael Mansfield.

The High Court is being asked to quash the CPS’s decision not to bring criminal charges against any officer and instead to prosecute the office of London’s Metropolitan Police Commissioner under health and safety laws.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is investigating De Menezes’ death.

The 27-year-old was shot seven times in the head at Stockwell Underground railway station in south London after being mistaken for a suicide bomber.