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De Menezes Family Take Fight To European Court

De Menezes Family Take Fight To European Court

No one has been held to account over the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, who was shot by police in London, a European court has been told.

The 27-year-old Brazilian was killed by Met Police marksmen on an underground train at Stockwell station after he was mistaken for a suicide bomber almost 10 years ago.

Relatives of Mr de Menezes have taken his case to the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that individual police officers should be held responsible for his death.

"The Government accepts in essence, there were systemic organisation failures, but no individuals have been prosecuted," their lawyer Hugh Southey QC told the court.

"No individual has been held to account."

He argues that the decision not to charge anyone over the death of Mr de Menezes is incompatible with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which deals with the right to life.

The electrician was killed on 22 July, 2005 - a day after failed suicide attacks in the capital and weeks after the 7/7 bombings, in which 52 people died.

The lawyer representing the British government, Clare Montgomery QC, told the court the police force was under "huge operational pressure" in the wake of the attacks.

"Both senior officers in command had virtually no sleep," she said.

"Fifty-two people had been killed on the 7th of July. On 21st July, the day before this event, four bombs had been set in Tube trains and buses and there was a hunt on for the four people who placed them, which was what led to this tragic event.

"His death was the result of a series of serious operational failures by the Metropolitan police. There is no doubt that his death could and should have been prevented."

But she says the death of Mr de Menezes did not amount to murder.

Two years after the shooting, the Met was fined £170,000 for breaching health and safety laws.

But the Brazilian man's family has not stopped campaigning for someone to be charged over his death.

Ahead of Wednesday's hearing, a cousin of Mr de Menezes, Patricia da Silva, described his death as a "pain that never goes away".

"Nothing can bring him back but we hope that this legal challenge will change the law so that no other family has to face what we did," she said.

A decision is expected to be handed down in several months.