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Beginning of the Inquest into the Killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, 22 Sept

The Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign | 18.09.2008 15:09 | Repression | Terror War | London

The coroner's inquest into the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes will begin on 22nd September.
Proceedings will be held from Monday to Thursday every week, between 9.45am and 4.30pm at The Oval cricket ground (Kennington). Come on the first day at 9am and show your support to the family.

This inquest will be an important opportunity for Jean's family to:

1) discover more of the truth about the actions on the police at Stockwell tube station in July 2005

2) have their legal representatives ask questions directly to the officers responsible

3) have the secret 'Shoot to Kill' policy brought into the public domain

We must ensure that the inquest is conducted in a fair, transparent and open manner so that the Metropolitan police feel the pressure of public accountability.

Members of Jean's family are travelling from Brazil and will attend the inquest.

The inquest will take place at The Oval cricket ground in Kennington and is likely to continue for three months. Proceedings will be held from Monday to Thursday every week, between 9.45am and 4.30pm. Members of the public can attend but space is very limited, which is a real concern. The coroner has arranged for an overflow room with a video link to the inquest, but this means the inquest jury will have no indication of the public interest in the evidence that is presented.

This is coupled with the coroner's decision to grant anonymity to 44 police officers, who will give their evidence from behind a screen. It is difficult to understand why they need this high level of protection and seems largely designed to ensure that named individuals evade responsibility for the deliberate killing of an innocent man. Both decisions severely undermine the principle of an open, transparent investigation.

Take Action

We urge you to attend the inquest, particularly on:

22nd September – the first day, when the Campaign will be highlighting the lack of space for members of the public and calling for the inquest to be moved to a larger venue. Anyone coming on the first day of the inquest should try and attend a planning meeting on Thursday 18th September at 6:30pm at School of Oriental and African Studies, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square WC1H 0XG – stay in contact for further details.

30th September – when the first police officer will give evidence anonymously and when the Campaign will be highlighting how this is an obstacle to public accountability. There will be another planning meeting on the evening of Thursday 25th September – stay in contact for further details.

Stay in Contact

The Campaign has set up a blog for the duration of the inquest, which you can find at  http://inquest.justice4jean.org. Here you can find details on travelling to the inquest, a calendar of forthcoming events, details of Campaign meetings, briefings and latest developments.

If you attend the inquest, please write a short piece about what happened and e-mail it to us. We'll add it to the blog.

We can be contacted on 07944 069 956 or at  justice4jean@gmail.com. If you are a member of Face Book, join up to our group at  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=3035927451

Spread the Word

Forward this email to as many people as you can and encourage them to attend the inquest or take one or more of the actions planned by the Campaign.

Send a letter to coroner John Sampson or an e-mail via his clerk, John Thompson, raising concerns about the issues of space and the anonymity of police officers:

John Sampson
H M Coroner for London (Inner South)
1 Tennis Street
London
SE1 1YD

E-mail:  john.thompson@southwark.gov.uk

Send a letter or email to the local and national press – e-mail addresses for the letters pages of national newspapers can be found at  http://inquest.justice4jean.org.

Over three years after Jean's brutal death, we need to remind the state of the extent of public disgust about the conduct of the police and the consistently failures to let Jean's family finally know the truth. Now more than ever, we need everyone to act.

Many thanks,

The Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign
- e-mail: justice4jean@gmail.com
- Homepage: http://inquest.justice4jean.org

Comments

Hide the following 3 comments

ermmmm

19.09.2008 22:15

basic anonimity in court in cases involving a death are for everyone, the police are not doinging anything underhand here, If the right to anonimity is removed by case law, then witness and victim anonimity is brourght into dispute.

This would also cover rape, murder and child molestation cases where anonimity from publication and identification are a protection from reprisals.

baby/bathwater?

Fairness in all things please.

Harry purvis


wrong

23.09.2008 19:46

Anonymity for State killers was invented as part of the repressive terror laws begun in the north of Ireland (if memory serves me right the Gibraltar assassinations were the first time anonymity was granted to a State law enforcement witness). Anonymity is manipulated by the State to hide identities of witnesses who might otherwise be recognised or challenged about their history or character. The anonymity of all soldiers at the Bloody Sunday Inquiry made a farce of a public inquiry.
In theory anonymity is to protect the life or safety of the witness. This is absurd in an Inquest were the anonymous witnesses are armed police officer with all the protection of the State and the family of an innocent man are denied knowing the names of their son's killers.

Fairness? Yes please!

russell


so..

08.10.2008 20:57

So the annonimity of a witness is determined by the job they do?

Emotive language to one side for a moment, lets examine the final moments of the event, the coppers recieve a final order from their boss, as far as they know they are after a bomber, with the events of the previous days full in their mind and the carnage it entailed.
They enter the underground system and at that point loose communications.

a tragedy happens.

is this the FAULT of the man or woman who pulled the trigger or of the information that gave the order in the first place, they had no time to send a runner, sit down and have a nice cosy chat about the weather, as far as they knew a man was in the train with a murderous intent.

and on the basis of this you want to give out the names, addresses etc of the copper, for what reason? how will that bring the man back?

I smell the tang of revenge and the rule of the mob in the air. To hell with justice we want BLOOD for BLOOD.

nice world

Harry purvis


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