Sri Lanka’s High Court has convicted 15 men accused of plotting the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, coordinated attacks on churches and luxury hotels that killed 270 people and injured more than 500.
Naufer Moulavi was among those convicted. Prosecutors had described him as the mastermind behind the suicide bombings. Nine other defendants were acquitted, while one of the 25 people initially indicted died in custody.
The court adjourned before sentencing. The defendants faced more than 23,000 charges and were taken to the High Court in Colombo in two prison buses, handcuffed in pairs.
The attacks struck three churches and three luxury hotels on Easter Sunday in 2019, making them Sri Lanka’s deadliest violence since the civil war ended in 2009. All of the suicide bombers died in the explosions. Investigators had previously attributed the attacks to Islamist extremists, and those indicted were members of Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority.
Most of those killed were Sri Lankan nationals, including many children. The victims included chef Shantha Mayadunne and her daughter, a family of five, hotel employees and five relatives from Negombo. Forty-five foreign nationals also died, including 11 Indians, eight Britons and five Americans, as well as citizens of several other countries.
Security failures and continuing investigations
In the aftermath of the bombings, Sri Lankan authorities acknowledged what they described as a major intelligence failure. Parliament was told that information from India warning of possible attacks had not been properly shared with the relevant authorities.
In 2023, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court ordered former president Maithripala Sirisena to pay millions in compensation to victims after finding him responsible for security failures linked to the attacks. Two former senior officials were sentenced to death last month for criminal negligence connected to the bombings. Sri Lanka has not carried out executions for decades, and death sentences are generally commuted to life imprisonment.
Separately, an investigation involving former intelligence chief Suresh Sallay remains under way. He is accused of orchestrating the attacks with Islamist extremists, an allegation he denies. Former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who has also denied related allegations, has been barred from leaving the country and has asked a court to prevent a possible arrest in the continuing inquiry.
Source: BBC News
