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| Sunday, 31 July 2005 |
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Brazil buries martyr of War on Terror Rio de Janeiro, Jul 29 (Prensa Latina) Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian electrician mistaken for a terrorist and killed by police in London, is due to be buried Friday in his home town, Gonzaga, amid increasing popular condemnation of the incident. Almost all of the Gonzaga's 6,000 residents turned out to pay their respects to the young Brazilian shot eight times after he was pursued and thrown to the ground. Menezes' assassination in London has triggered wide public protests in Brazil, with demonstrations in front of the British diplomatic and consular headquarters in this country demanding justice. The Human Rights Secretary of Brazil's Federal Government, Mario Mamede, who is representing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the funeral, rejected any justification for Menezes' killing, insisting that the war on terrorism cannot be at the expense of human rights. Meanwhile, the UK Home Office issued a statement claiming that Menezes' student visa expired in 2003, adding a passport stamp apparently giving him the right to stay in Britain indefinitely was not genuine. However, the Brazilian foreign ministry responded with a statement saying that irrespective of Mr Menezes' status, the police were still responsible for the death of an innocent man, and Brtish civil liberties groups also rejected such statements, emphasizing that immigration status is not a valid excuse for killing anyone. |
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