Sri Lanka begins trials connected to 2019 Easter Sunday bombings

A Sri Lankan court has begun the first of three trials connected to bombings that killed nearly 270 people on the island in 2019, amidst appeals for greater accountability from victim support groups.

In the trial that started on Monday, former National Police Chief Pujith Jayasundara is charged with failing to act on repeated intelligence warnings of a possible terror attack.

A total of 855 charges of murder and attempted murder were read out as Jayasundara stood in the dock at the back of the courtroom. A total of 1,215 witnesses have been listed to give evidence but not all may be called, his lawyer said.

“Our position is the former police chief is not guilty. He did not intentionally aid or abet the attacks and there was no omission on his part that caused the attacks,” attorney Ranjith Dehiwala said.

Ex-Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, the top official in the defence ministry at the time, faces similar charges in a trial beginning later on Monday. Neither he nor his lawyer could be reached for comment.

Both men are out on bail.

The third trial, trying 24 men accused of carrying out the attacks, begins on Tuesday.

 

Police filed over 23,000 charges against the suspects, including conspiring to murder, aiding and abetting the attacks, and collecting arms and ammunition. The group also includes Mohammad Naufer, who officials say masterminded the attacks and is linked to ISIL (ISIS).

The string of attacks carried out on Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019, targeted three churches and three hotels, killed 267 people, including at least 45 foreign nationals.

The attacks, the worst in Sri Lanka’s turbulent history, also injured about 500 people, mostly belonging to the island’s minority Christian community.

Al Jazeera’s Minelle Fernandez, reporting from the court in Colombo, said the trial was adjourned and will resume in January to allow time for the translation of the indictments into Tamil, a language the defendants can understand.

Fernandez said family members of the accused were “very concerned for the fate of their loved ones” and rejected the charges against them. Some alleged that their relatives had been forced to confess and even tortured.

However, “the government maintains that these are the people who aided the suicide bombers that carried out the six deadly suicide attacks,” Fernandez said.

On Sunday, dozens of Catholic community members held protests and laid flowers at multiple events organised to remember those lost in the attacks.

Participants appealed to the government to support survivors and ensure the trials are allowed to proceed without political interference.

“We want genuine justice from this process. That is what we are appealing for the officials to deliver. We have been waiting a long time and we want the real people responsible held accountable for what happened,” said Eranga Gunasekera, a member of a victims support group, during a remembrance ceremony held in Colombo.