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 Following British prosecutors refusal to bring charges over the death of Brazilian citizen Jean Charles de Menezes, who was killed by the London police, Menezes's family dropped their legal battle for justice. They said almost four years of relentless campaigning brought them little closer to holding any individual to account for the innocent Brazilian's death.
Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer QC approved a decision not to prosecute any police officers over the shooting. Menezes' cousin Vivian Figueiredo said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) move was "deeply upsetting."
She said the family will turn their energy to lobbying Parliament on the laws surrounding police accountability.
Ms Figueiredo observed: "We are all in shock and simply cannot understand how the deliberate killing of an innocent man and an attempt by the Metropolitan police to cover it up does not result in a criminal offense.
"We condemn the CPS decision and reject the logic of their argument. The inquest put the truth out there for all the public to see, but the authorities want us to forget the truth to stop us getting justice. But we will never forget."
Prosecutors conducted an extensive review of the evidence presented at the three-month inquest into his death last year. But they found insufficient evidence to pursue the officers who pulled the trigger or those who oversaw the operation for manslaughter or gross negligence.
Menezes was shot dead by two marksmen after boarding a train at Stockwell Tube Station on July 22, 2005, after he was mistaken for suicide bomber Hussain Osman. The incident happened a few days after the terrorist bombing of London.
An inquest jury returned an open verdict last December after hearing three months of evidence. Coroner Sir Michael Wright was criticized in December for ruling out unlawful killing as a possible verdict
Mercopress
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The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
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Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose. 
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If she wants to understand this, perhaps she should take a look at similar killings in her home country. Killing innocents and covering it up is a Brasilian police pastime. That doesn't mean that what happened to her son is right, or less horrible. But consider what would have happened to him in his homeland if here were running away from police--for any reason whatsoever.
Given the number of civilians killed by police in Brasil in any given year, I'm willing to bet there are a thousand "Jean Charles" cases here every year. Yet they never get the kind of coverage in Brasil as this one has. The reason, of course, is that Brasilians are especially fond of pointing out that the bad things that happen in their homeland also happen elsewhere. The difference is that they happen in Brasil at a rate that far exceeds that of just about anywhere else in the world.
At least the Jean Charles case was reported, and an investigation took place. Agree or disagree with the results, but realize that had this happened in Brasil, there is a good chance it would have gone unnoticed. And it certainly would not be investigated.