UK Police Officer Cleared Of Murder After Black Man Shot Dead

Published

1 year ago

October 21, 2024

Dozens of people gathered Monday near London’s Old Bailey court after the police marksman who fatally shot a black man as he tried to stop the car he was driving was cleared of murder.

Supporters chanted “Say his name -– Chris Kaba” and “No justice -– no peace” while others held up placards saying “Justice for Chris Kaba”.

Kaba was shot dead two years in an incident in south London.

Martyn Blake, 40, had been on trial for killing the 24-year-old in the Streatham area of the British capital in September 2022. He died of a single gunshot to the head.

The police officer was earlier briefly overcome by emotion as the jury returned a not guilty verdict after about three hours’ deliberation at the central London court.

Kaba’s family meanwhile sat in stony silence and gave no immediate reaction but said later they were “devastated” and promised to fight on for “justice”.

Temi Mwale and Kayza Rose, of the Justice For Chris Kaba Campaign, said the acquittal was “painful proof that our lives are not valued by this system.

“This outcome reinforces the harsh reality that police can kill without consequence,” they added in a statement.

Kaba’s death prompted protests from his family and friends, who have been supported by Inquest, which campaigns on state-related deaths, including at the hands of police.

“We know that Chris’ death is not an isolated case but part of systemic racism and stereotyping that equates black men with dangerousness,” said Inquest director Deborah Coles.

“For decades, black men have disproportionately been killed by the police.”

– ‘Split second decision’ –
The decision to charge Blake saw dozens of his firearms colleagues in the Metropolitan Police force stop work in protest and the army put on standby to replace them.

Officers would be put off volunteering for firearms training if they feared being embroiled in lengthy court cases when a fatal shooting took place, they argued.

Reacting to the verdict, Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said Blake had paid “a huge personal and professional sacrifice” since the shooting.

He said the officer had made “a split second decision on what he believed was necessary to protect his colleagues and to protect London”.

No officer was above the law, he said, but the system for holding police to account was “broken”.

“I worry about the lack of support officers face for doing their best, but most of all, I worry for the public,” he said.

“The more we crush the spirit of good officers, the less they can fight crime that risks London becoming less safe,” he added.

Prosecutors had argued that the shooting was “not reasonably justified or justifiable”.

Police in England, Scotland and Wales are not routinely armed and only a small proportion are authorised to carry guns.

In the year to March 2023, official figures showed that there were 18,395 police firearms operations and police weapons were deliberately fired in 10 of these incidents, with three fatalities.

Blake shot Kaba through the front windscreen of an Audi Q8 car, which had been used as a getaway vehicle in a shooting the previous evening.

It had been blocked by other police vehicles when it was identified and the court was told that Kaba tried to ram his way free.

Blake told jurors he opened fire to stop the car, as he feared one of his colleagues could be killed.

FULL LIST: US To Review Green Cards From 19 ‘Countries Of Concern’ After Washington Shooting

Published

7 hours ago

November 29, 2025

Editor

The Trump administration announced on Thursday that it will review the immigration status of all permanent residents, or “Green Card” holders, from Afghanistan and 18 other countries following the attack on National Guard troops in Washington, D.C.

U.S. officials identified the suspect in Wednesday’s shooting as a 29-year-old Afghan national who previously worked alongside American forces in Afghanistan.

The individual was granted asylum earlier this year, not permanent residency, according to AfghanEvac, an organisation that assists Afghans resettled in the United States after the Taliban takeover in 2021.

“I have directed a full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern,” said Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), on X.

The review follows a June executive order from President Trump classifying 19 countries as “of Identified Concern.”

The order banned entry for nearly all nationals from 12 countries, including Afghanistan. The full list of these countries is:

Afghanistan

Myanmar

Chad

Congo-Brazzaville

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Haiti

Iran

Libya

Somalia

Sudan

Yemen

A partial travel ban applies to seven additional countries, though some temporary work visas remain allowed: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

Headline

Romanian Defence Minister Quits After Admitting Error In Academic Record

Published

8 hours ago

November 29, 2025

Editor

Romania’s defence minister resigned on Friday after saying he made a “mistake” on his CV about his university education, as controversy swirled over alleged lies on his resume.

Ionut Mosteanu – who has admitted to writing on his CV that he graduated from a university he never attended – said he did not want the row “to distract” the NATO member at a time when it and Europe are “under attack from Russia”.

Romania has repeatedly seen drone fragments fall on its soil since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and reported a number of drone incursions.

On Tuesday, a drone crashed in eastern Romania, which borders Ukraine.

Romania has also accused Moscow of “hybrid attacks”, including meddling in presidential elections last year that were subsequently annulled.

“Today, I resigned from my position as minister of national defence,” Mosteanu said in a Facebook post, adding he wanted the country to be focused on its “difficult mission”.

“Romania and Europe are under attack from Russia. Our national security must be defended at all costs,” he added.

Mosteanu had come under pressure after a media investigation published on Thursday revealed that he wrote in a CV that he graduated from a university which he did not actually attend.

That same day he apologised for what he called “a mistake”.

“In a CV I quickly put together in 2016 using a template I found online, there is a mistake that I admit embarrasses me. I didn’t pay much attention to these details at the time,” he said on Facebook.

Mosteanu was appointed defence minister in June of this year, when a new pro-European government was formed after months of political turmoil.

Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said in a press release that he would propose economy and tourism minister Radu Miruta take over the defence portfolio in the interim.

AFP

Headline

Russia Insists Ukraine Must Cede Land Or Face Continued Military Push

Published

2 days ago

November 27, 2025

Editor

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he would end his Ukraine offensive if Kyiv withdrew from territory Moscow claims at its own — otherwise his army would take it by force.

The Russian army has been slowly but steadily grinding through eastern Ukraine in costly battles against outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian forces.

Washington has meanwhile renewed its push to end the nearly four-year war, putting forward a surprise plan that it hopes to finalise through upcoming talks with Moscow and Kyiv.

“If Ukrainian forces leave the territories they hold, then we will stop combat operations,” Putin said during a visit to Kyrgyzstan. “If they don’t, then we will achieve it by military means.”

Russia controls around one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory. The issue of occupied land, which Kyiv has said it will never cede, is among the biggest stumbling blocks in the peace process.

Another important issue in the talks are Western security guarantees for Ukraine, which Kyiv says are needed to prevent Moscow from invading again in the future.

Washington’s original plan — drafted without input from Ukraine’s European allies — would have seen Kyiv withdraw from its eastern Donetsk region and the United States de facto recognise the Donetsk, Crimea and Lugansk regions as Russian.

The US pared back the original plan over the weekend following criticism from Kyiv and Europe, but has not yet released the new version.

Putin, who has seen the new plan, said it could be a negotiation starter.

“Overall, we agree that it could form the basis for future agreements,” he said of the latest draft, which the US is thought to have shortened to about 20 points.

US negotiator Steve Witkoff was expected in Moscow next week to discuss the revised document, Putin said.

US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is meanwhile due to visit Kyiv later this week, Ukraine’s top presidential aide Andriy Yermak said.

– ‘Little can be done’ –

In his remarks Thursday, Putin repeated the claim that Russia had encircled the Ukrainian army in Pokrovsk and Myrnograd in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region — the most fiercely embattled area and a key target for Moscow’s forces.

“Krasnoarmeysk and Dimitrov are completely surrounded,” he said, using the Russian names for the cities.

Moscow was also advancing in Vovchansk and Siversk, as well as approaching the important logistic hub of Guliaipole, he added.

The Russian offensive “is practically impossible to hold back, so there is little that can be done about it”, Putin said.

Ukraine has denied Pokrovsk and Myrnograd are encircled, insisting its forces continue to hold the enemy along the front line.

Putin also questioned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s legitimacy and said signing any agreement with him would be legally “almost impossible” at the moment, a suggestion that has drawn groans from Kyiv and its allies.

According to data analysed by AFP from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian forces have conquered an average of 467 square kilometres (180 square miles) each month in 2025 — a step up from 2024.

Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the worst armed conflict in Europe since World War II.

The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced millions to flee their homes.