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Bennis family hopeful of police shooting inquest
Supporters of the family of Mohammed Anas Bennis say they have new hope a public inquiry will be held into his fatal shooting by Montreal police four and a half years ago.
Bennis, 25, was shot by an officer while he walked home from morning prayers at a mosque in the city's Côte-des-Neiges district on Dec. 1, 2005.
On Tuesday, Quebec Superior Court will hear a motion from the union representing Montreal police officers aimed at quashing a coroner's inquest into the case.
But Bennis family members say they are hopeful a recent court decision in an unrelated case strengthens the likelihood of an coroner's inquiry, which would at least be public.
An inquest into Bennis's death was ordered by Quebec's chief coroner in June 2008, and the police have been trying to block it ever since. The officer involved in the shooting, Const. Yannick Bernier, had already been cleared by a police investigation and was not charged.
Police said Bernier had been helping Quebec provincial police carry out a search warrant in a fraud investigation.
According to police at the time, Bennis, who was not a suspect in the investigation, stabbed Bernier in the neck and leg using a kitchen knife in an apparently unprovoked attack.
But members of the Bennis family have always questioned that version of what happened.
Court rejects blocking inquiry
Last week, Quebec's Court of Appeal overturned a Superior Court ruling blocking any public investigation into the death of another man, who died after an altercation with Montreal police in 2003.
The Montreal Police Brotherhood had sought to prevent the inquiry ordered by Quebec's chief coroner into the death of Michel Berniquez. Berniquez, 45, died after an encounter with six police officers, which was sparked by his erratic beahviour in a corner store in Montreal North.
"Are we going to have to go to the Court of Appeal to finally have the right to a public inquiry, as happened in the case of Michel Berniquez?" asked Bennis's sister, Najlaa.
The family's supporters are critical of the police union's attempts to block an inquiry into Bennis's death.
"There is a culture or a mindset, unfortunately … from the police brotherhood, which is to defend their position whether it is right or not," said Montreal Muslim Council chair Salam Elmenyawi. "It is shameful, because it hurts them … their own image.
"All we are asking for is the [facts]."
The family has also received the support of opposition Project Montréal Leader Richard Bergeron.
"I hope they [the brotherhood] will lose, that the judge will take a decision against them and that we will have this public inquiry," said Bergeron, who also sits on the city's executive committee.
Mayor's comments give group hope
Supporters of the Bennis family also point to comments made by Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay at last month's city council meeting.
During a supplemental question period April 20, they said, Tremblay appeared to support the family's call for an inquest.
"I wish, like you, and like all the members of the city council that all light be shed as soon as possible," Tremblay said in response to a question from a member of the Bennis support committee.
A spokesman for the mayor, who is on an economic mission to China, denied the city is also calling for an inquiry.
The city does not have the authority to approve an inquest but has maintained that the Bennis family should have access to information pertaining to the case, he said.