'This is much worse'
2005-08-18 12:20
Sao Paulo - Friends and relatives of the Brazilian electrician killed by British police after being mistaken for a terrorist said on Wednesday that the officers involved should be jailed now that news has emerged he had been restrained before being shot seven times in the head.
Contradicting police claims that Jean Charles de Menezes was acting suspiciously last month, British channel ITV news reported he walked calmly into a subway station and picked up a newspaper before going down an escalator and running to catch a train.
Menezes, 27, was shot only after an officer had already pinned him in his seat, ITV said, citing an investigative report into the incident.
"I already knew Jean never had a reason to run, but now everyone knows he didn't, and the police acted much worse than we thought," said Romir Pereira, a close friend who lives in Menezes' hometown of Gonzaga, 750km northeast of Sao Paulo. "The government there needs to take action, and make arrests."
ITV's report into the shooting contradicted previous police statements that Menezes refused to obey police, and witness reports that he ran through the Stockwell station wearing a bulky jacket on a hot July day.
Officers following him concluded that he matched the description of one of the four July 21 attackers, according to the leaked documents reported by ITV. However, a surveillance officer did not record Menezes because he had gone to the toilet and was unable to switch on the video recording device.
Brazil's Foreign Ministry said officials are aware of the ITV report, but that no official statement will be made until the investigation is concluded.
Menezes' friends in Gonzaga, a town of 6 000 where many young men go abroad to earn a nest egg to bring home so they can have a better life, said the ITV report backs up their claim that those responsible for his death should have been punished.
"It's starting to get absurd," said Gonzaga Mayor Julio Maria de Souza. "We've been demanding justice for weeks, but we're still waiting. Nothing has happened."
In London, one of Menezes' many cousins called for sweeping action against those directly responsible for the killing, and said their superiors shouldn't be spared.
"The officers who have done this have to be sent to jail for life because it's murder, and the people who gave them the order to shoot must be punished," said Alex Alvez Pereira.
- AP