Policemen face criminal charges over Brazilian’s shooting

LONDON — British police officers, involved in the killing of an innocent Brazilian in an anti-terrorist operation here in July last, are facing criminal charges over allegations that they tampered with evidence after the shooting incident.

The officials, who oversaw the anti-terrorist operation, will be charged by Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) officials with attempting to pervert the course of justice by disguising the fact that they had mistaken 27-year-old Jean Charles De Menezes for a terrorism suspect, the ‘independent’ reported today.

The disclosure comes three weeks after reports that undercover police deliberately attempted to blame firearms officers for the shooting.

Police surveillance officers allegedly tried to disguise the fact that they had mistaken De Menezes for Hussain Osman, the alleged terrorist being hunted for a failed suicide bombing on the tube.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is planning action over the allegations that special branch officers took part in the cover-up, in which words clearing them of any wrong-doing were written into the police log.

Senior legal sources say that officers who were allegedly involved in altering the log, which detailed the last movements of De Menezes, face charges of obstructing public justice or conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

“This was a deliberate and obvious attempt to smear the firearms officers and there is a great deal of anxiety about it at the MET (Metropolitan Police),” prosecution sources were quoted as saying.

De Menezes’ family has already called for a public inquiry into the killing.

Bureau Report