The decision marks the end of an eight-year legal battle brought forward by Mr Menezes' family, who sought to have the individual officers responsible for the victim's death charged.
The ECHR backed the 2006 decision taken by the UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which ruled that it would not lay charges against the two police officers, who mistakenly identified Mr Menezes as a suicide bomber, before pinning him down and shooting him inside the carriage of a train at London's Stockwell underground station.
Grand Chamber judgment Armani da Silva v. the UK — investigation into fatal shooting in thhttps://t.co/XQeSBTz13q#ECHR
— ECHR Press (@ECHR_Press) March 30, 2016
De Menezes was killed on July 22, 2005, just two weeks after the July 7 London bombings, which claimed the lives of 52 people, and one day after unexploded bombs were found on three tube trains and a bus in the city.
The subsequent decision not to charge any individual officers for the death led to a series of legal challenges from the victim's family and public outrage, amid claims the police were not being made responsible for their actions.
A Series of Mistakes
On the morning of Mr Menezes' death, surveillance officers followed him from his home in Tulse Hill, south London, to Stockwell underground station as he made his way to work.
The Brazilian national, who shared the same address as two terror suspects, was mistakenly identified as a suicide bomber, and was pinned down and shot in the head numerous times by two officers as he entered one of the train's carriages.
Jean Charles de Menezes was shot 7 times to the head, 1 shot to his shoulder. He wasn’t challenged. He was executed. No one accountable
— Emma Kennedy (@EmmaKennedy) March 30, 2016
So nobody is to be held accountable for the murder of Jean Charles de Menezes? Is this really the kind of society we want?
— Gavin Armstrong (@gav947) March 30, 2016
It may only have been two months after the 7/7 bombings in London, but is that an excuse for murdering unarmed Jean Charles de Menezes? No.
— Les Floyd (@Lesism) March 30, 2016
An Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) report in 2006 found that Mr de Menezes had been killed as a result of a number of avoidable mistakes, while the investigation identified a number of possible criminal offences committed by the officers, including murder and gross negligence.
Despite these findings, the UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided not to press charges against any of the individual officers involved in the death, citing no realistic prospect of conviction.
Long Legal Battle
While no charges were laid against individuals, the Metropolitan Police Service was later fined US$250,000 (£175,000) under health and safety legislation. Although the decision held the police service responsible, the jury absolved the officer in charge of any "personal culpability."
This was also followed up by a 2008 inquest, which returned an open verdict, after rejecting the official account of events.
