Euro court backs UK over not charging de Menezes off icers
THE family of Jean Charles de Menezes has lost a human rights challenge over the decision not to prosecute any police officer for his shooting.
The Brazilian electrician was killed by police who mistook him for a suicide bomber in the fevered aftermath of the July 7 attacks in London.
European judges yesterday ruled the authorities were right not to charge the marksmen who shot Mr de Menezes, 27, on an Underground train at Stockwell in 2005.
The i ncident came amid heightened tensions two weeks after the July 7 attacks, which killed 52 people, and a day after the failed July 21 bombings on the Underground.
Mr de Menezes’s relatives took their case to the European Court of Human Rights over the Crown Prosecution Service’s failure to charge anybody with murder.
Their seven-year legal battle centred on Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which requires the Government to carry out an independent investigation into all deaths caused by the State.
The family claimed the ‘realistic prospect of conviction’ test applied by the CPS – that a finding of guilt should be more likely than not – was too high a threshold and denied them the right to a proper investigation. They also argued officers should not have been allowed to claim they acted in self-defence.
But j udges yesterday dismissed their challenge by 13 votes to four. The ruling said the case was ‘ undoubtedly tragic’ and the frustration of Mr de Menezes’s family at the absence of any individual prosecutions was understandable.
But it said the British authorities had thoroughly investigated the incident and con- cluded there was not enough evidence to charge anyone.
The ruling said: ‘The decision not to prosecute any individual officer had not been due to any failings in the investigation or the State’s tolerance of or collusion in unlawful acts.
‘Rather, it was due to the fact that, f ollowing a thorough investigation, a prosecutor considered all the facts of the case and concluded that there was i nsufficient evidence against any individual officer to meet the threshold evidential test in respect of any criminal offence.’
It added: ‘The court found, overall, that it could not be said that the authorities had failed to ensure that those responsible for Mr de Menezes’s death had been held accountable.’
Mr de Menezes’s family said they were ‘deeply disappointed’. A spokesman added: ‘We had hoped that the ruling would give a glimmer of hope, not only to us, but to all other families who have been denied the right to justice after deaths at the hands of the police.
‘We find it unbelievable that our innocent cousin could be shot seven times in the head by the Metropolitan Police when he had done nothing wrong and yet the police have not had to account for their actions.’
Last night a Government spokesman said: ‘The facts of this case are tragic, but the Government considers that the court has upheld the important principle that individuals are only prosecuted where there is a realistic prospect of conviction.’
‘Deeply disappointed’