July 25, 2005

Victim of Tragic Error is Brazilian

I am not able to use my laptop right now, so I am only getting residual reports of this, but it appears that the man killed in London by police the other day was Brazilian. I will post more details as they become avaiable to me. Below is the article that tipped me off.

Update: Here is a link to the BBC article on the subject. Key quote:

"This tragedy has added another victim to the toll of deaths for which the terrorists bear responsibility."

Second Update: According to the Brazilian newspaper O Globo, the reason Jean Charles Menezes ran from police was that his worker's visa had expired.

Brazil expresses shock at citizen's killing

The Government wants Britain to explain the circumstances that led to the tragedy.

SAO PAULO: The Brazilian Government ``was shocked and perplexed'' to learn that London police mistakenly shot to death a Brazilian citizen on a subway car, the Foreign Ministry said.

``The Government expects the British authorities to explain the circumstances that led to this tragedy,'' Saturday's statement said, without citing the citizen's name or giving any other information about the incident.

London authorities said 27-year-old Jean Charles de Menezes was
killed on Friday at the Stockwell subway station as police investigated the series of botched transit bombings a day earlier and the July 7 attacks that killed 56 people, including the four bombers.

The Brazilian Government said their citizen was ``apparently the victim of a lamentable mistake.''

Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, who was in London for talks on United Nations reform, will try meet British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to seek an explanation, the statement added.

``Brazil has always condemned all forms of terrorism and has been willing to contribute to the eradication of this scourge under international norms, including with respect to human rights,'' the statement said.

Local media reported that Menezes was an electrician who had been working and living legally in England for three years.

``He spoke English very well, and had permission to study and work there,'' Menezes' cousin Maria Alves told the O Globo Online Web site from her home in Sao Paulo.

Menezes was originally from the small city of Gonzaga, some 800 km northeast of Sao Paulo in the southeastern State of Minas Gerais.

``No, there was nothing to do with Islamism,'' police officer Agostino Ferreira Rosa said. ``We know he was Catholic.''

GloboNews TV reported that Menezes' body was identified by another cousin, Alex Alves Pereira, who lived with Menezes and two other cousins in London.

``I've already asked the police to release the body as soon as possible,'' Mr. Pereira told GloboNews from London.

``That's all the family and his friends want right now.''

— AP

Posted by Andrew on July 25, 2005 11:13 AM.