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Lawyer for Brazilian urges UK police chief | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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LONDON (Reuters) – Lawyers representing the family of a Brazilian man killed by police after he was mistaken for a suicide bomber accused London”s police chief on Thursday of trying to block an official inquiry and called on him to resign.

Jean Charles de Menezes was shot eight times by police on an underground train on July 22, the day after four would-be bombers failed in attacks on London”s transport system.

London police chief Ian Blair at first said the shooting was linked to the failed attacks, and that de Menezes had been challenged but had refused to obey police instructions.

However leaked documents obtained by ITV News said police and eyewitness accounts showed this was not the case.

Lawyer Harriet Wistrich said Blair should resign.

&#34Sir Ian Blair should resign. The lies that appear to have been put out, like the statement from Sir Ian Blair, for instance, are clearly wrong. And nobody has stepped in to correct the lies,&#34 she said.

In a statement, Wistrich said: &#34Virtually the entire body of information either placed, or allowed to remain, in the public domain since Jean Charles de Menezes was killed … has been false.&#34

Initial police reports said the Brazilian electrician was dressed suspiciously in a heavy coat and had fled armed officers, vaulted over ticket barriers and run onto a train.

The leaked police documents said eyewitness accounts showed he was not wearing a padded jacket, had walked calmly through the station and even stopped to collect a free newspaper.

Wistrich also accused Blair of delaying the inquiry, saying he initially wrote to the Home Office asking for an internal investigation into the killing as opposed to handing the case over to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

A senior police source told the Guardian newspaper this was to avoid damaging the morale of the elite firearms section.

&#34We did make an error, the IPCC should have been called in immediately,&#34 the police source was quoted as saying.

Wistrich said she was skeptical of receiving a fair hearing at a meeting on Thursday with IPCC officials.

&#34We have a real problem with this inquiry because of the very serious delay … and the misinformation, the very misleading information, which was very hurtful to the family,&#34 Wistrich told BBC radio.

&#34We will be asking the IPCC to assure us that they are doing everything to put right the earlier failings although frankly we are skeptical now as to the chances of a completely independent, thorough, transparent inquiry.&#34