Family of slain Brazilian refuses compensation offer: Police attempting to buy their silence

Xinhuanet
Aug. 20, 2005

The parents of the Brazilian man killed mistakenly by British anti-terror police in south London have reportedly turned down a compensation offer of 1 million pounds (1.8 million US dollars).

Matozinho and Maria de Menezes, parents of 27-year-old Jean Charles de Menezes, have reportedly rejected the offer as an insult, Sky news reported on Saturday.

"We will not be bought off. We will not be silenced. This is not about money, this is about justice," they told the Daily Mail newspaper.

The paper claimed that John Yates, deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, flew to Brazil two weeks ago to make the initial offer of payment.

But Yasmin Khan, of the Justice4Jean campaign, said: "Money was being bandied about, but was not accepted. The family felt it was insulting and was not prepared to be bought off."

Scotland Yard refused to comment on any offer of compensation.

Police chief Ian Blair is under pressure to resign over the death of Menezes.

Alessandro Pereira, cousin of Menezes, accused the Scotland Yard chief of telling "lies" and demanded he resign for the suffering of Menezes' family since his death.

The Brazilian was shot seven times in the head and one in the shoulder by plain-clothes police who suspected Menezes of linkage with the abortive London bombings on July 21.

Both the police and the British government have announced their apology for the Brazilian's death and offered to compensate for it.

The shoot-to-kill policy aimed at suicide bombers following London's serial bombings has come under fierce attack since Menezes' death.