'Let us stay here for Jean Charles'
Tippa Naphtali (4WardEver) | 11.07.2007 00:55 | Social Struggles | Birmingham | London
Relatives of Jean Charles de Menezes leading a campaign to prosecute cops over his shooting could be kicked out of the country. Four of Jean Charles's cousins and a family friend are desperately trying to get permission to stay in the UK until the inquest is held into the shooting of the Brazilian at Stockwell Tube station.
Jean Charles de Menezes
original source - IC South London
http://icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk/
RELATIVES of Jean Charles de Menezes leading a campaign to prosecute cops over his shooting could be kicked out of the country.
Four of Jean Charles's cousins and a family friend are desperately trying to get permission to stay in the UK until the inquest is held into the shooting of the Brazilian at Stockwell Tube station.
The 27-year-old electrician was followed by cops from a flat in Scotia Road, Tulse Hill, and shot seven times on a Tube train on July 22, 2005, after being mistaken for a suicide bomber.
The inquest could be as much as a year away after law lords ruled this month it could not be heard until the end of a trial brought under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
No individual officers will be tried for their part in Jean Charles's death - instead the Office of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner will be charged with failing in its duty of ensuring the safety of nonemployees.
The family's solicitor, Harriet Wistrich, said it was important the five stayed in the country to represent the De Menezes family until the case was over.
She said: "The direct family is not here and it is very difficult for them to follow the case so they nominated these people to represent them in the UK.
"We probably won't get the inquest until this time next year and that will be the first time the family gets the chance to really ask their questions.
"It is important that they are here to do that.
"Given the exceptional circumstances of this case and the need of the family for someone to speak for them, you would think the Home Office would allow them to remain until that hearing is over."
Family friend Erionaldo da Silva has already had his visa refused and is appealing against the decision.
One cousin, Patricia Armani da Silva, is waiting to hear if her visa will be renewed. Another, Alessandro Pereira is on a temporary student visa that could end this year.
Two more family members are also unsure if they will be allowed to stay to be at the inquest.
All five have played prominent parts in the family's campaign.
A Home Office spokesman said: "We don't comment on individual cases."
http://icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk/ RELATIVES of Jean Charles de Menezes leading a campaign to prosecute cops over his shooting could be kicked out of the country.
Four of Jean Charles's cousins and a family friend are desperately trying to get permission to stay in the UK until the inquest is held into the shooting of the Brazilian at Stockwell Tube station.
The 27-year-old electrician was followed by cops from a flat in Scotia Road, Tulse Hill, and shot seven times on a Tube train on July 22, 2005, after being mistaken for a suicide bomber.
The inquest could be as much as a year away after law lords ruled this month it could not be heard until the end of a trial brought under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
No individual officers will be tried for their part in Jean Charles's death - instead the Office of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner will be charged with failing in its duty of ensuring the safety of nonemployees.
The family's solicitor, Harriet Wistrich, said it was important the five stayed in the country to represent the De Menezes family until the case was over.
She said: "The direct family is not here and it is very difficult for them to follow the case so they nominated these people to represent them in the UK.
"We probably won't get the inquest until this time next year and that will be the first time the family gets the chance to really ask their questions.
"It is important that they are here to do that.
"Given the exceptional circumstances of this case and the need of the family for someone to speak for them, you would think the Home Office would allow them to remain until that hearing is over."
Family friend Erionaldo da Silva has already had his visa refused and is appealing against the decision.
One cousin, Patricia Armani da Silva, is waiting to hear if her visa will be renewed. Another, Alessandro Pereira is on a temporary student visa that could end this year.
Two more family members are also unsure if they will be allowed to stay to be at the inquest.
All five have played prominent parts in the family's campaign.
A Home Office spokesman said: "We don't comment on individual cases."
Tippa Naphtali (4WardEver)
e-mail:
info@4wardever.org
Homepage:
http://www.4wardever.org
