Sri Lankan court acquits two top officials in 2019 Easter terror attacks

A Sri Lankan court on Friday acquitted two top officials, including former police chief Pujith Jayasundera, of all charges of negligence in the 2019 Easter terror attacks that killed nearly 270 people, including 11 Indians.

Colombo: A Sri Lankan court on Friday acquitted two top officials, including former police chief Pujith Jayasundera, of all charges of negligence in the 2019 Easter terror attacks that killed nearly 270 people, including 11 Indians. The High Court freed Jayasundera and former defence secretary Hemasiri Fernando of all charges of negligence where they had been accused of not taking action to prevent the attacks despite the availability of prior intelligence.

According to their lawyers, the court's order found fault with the Attorney General for filing a case against the duo. The two were arrested in July 2019, three months after the attack. They were granted bail after their arrest and rearrested in October 2019. They were granted bail in August 2021. Jayasundera was in November last year indicted with 855 charges of criminal negligence for failing to act despite receiving prior intelligence warnings in the terror attacks. Fernando also faced similar charges. While Fernando obliged the then President Maithripala Sirisena's call to resign, Jayasundera was dismissed as the police chief by Sirisena in June 2019.

The court ruling came as the Catholic Church and the Sri Lankan government were embroiled in a battle over the findings of a presidential panel appointed by Sirisena to probe the Easter Day terror attacks. Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has blamed the government for using the findings of the probe for a political cover up and not delivering justice to the victims of the attacks. Sirisena's panel report had found himself, Fernando and Jayasundera along with nine other senior policemen guilty for negligence.

Nine suicide bombers belonging to local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat (NTJ) linked to ISIS carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through three churches and as many luxury hotels on April 21, 2019, killing nearly 270 people, and injuring over 500. The attack stirred a political storm as the then government headed by President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was blamed for its inability to prevent the attacks despite prior intelligence being made available.

PTI