Twenty-five accused in Easter Sunday bomb attacks face 23,270 charges

By Farook Thajudeen

Twenty-five suspects in the attacks on three churches and three hotels on Easter Sunday in April 2019 were charged before the Special Trial-at-Bar yesterday.

Twenty-four accused who were brought before the Special Trial-at-Bar were served with indictments by the Court. However the 15th suspect was not brought to Court as he has contracted COVID-19.

Consequent to serving indictments the accused Counsel pleaded that the indictment be served to the accused with Tamil translation.

The Attorney General charged the 25 accused on 23,270 charges over the killing of 269 civilians on Easter Sunday 2019.

Deputy Solicitor General Haripriya Jayasundera appearing for the prosecution told Court that the Police was conducting impartial investigations and that the Government had already obtained foreign assistance from countries such as the USA and Australia to conduct forensic investigations. The DSG further emphasised that the Government was conducting investigations without bias.

The three Trial-at-Bar Judges Damith Totawatte, Amal Ranaraja and N. Marasinghe postponed further inquiries for 23 November and ordered the prosecution to provide translations of the plaints to the accused on the languages they requested.

The accused were charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act for conspiring to murder, aiding and abetting, collecting arms and ammunition and attempted murder.

The Chief Justice appointed a special three-member High Court bench to hear the cases.

Head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has repeatedly faulted the Government for not conducting the investigations properly. He has alleged the real conspirators are still at large and accused the authorities of trying to shield the masterminds. The Government has denied his claims.