Court dismisses Sirisena’s request to nullify Easter Sunday charges

The Colombo District Court yesterday dismissed a request by former President and MP Maithripala Sirisena to nullify all the cases naming him as the first accused in the Easter Sunday attacks in 2019.

The order was issued by Colombo Additional District Judge Chathurika de Silva.

Sirisena had requested through his counsel on 29 November 2021 to quash all cases naming him as the first accused in the Easter Sunday attacks, without taking it up for consideration.

Individuals who were injured from the attacks and the families affected had filed cases with the Colombo District Court naming Former President Sirisena as the first accused.

These cases were filed naming former President Maithripala Sirisena, former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara, and former Director of the State Intelligence Service Nilantha Jayawardena as the accused. 

The cases were filed noting that the accused had disregarded their duties in preventing the attacks, and thus the accused must compensate the victims.