The Colombo District Court on Thursday allowed former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara and former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando to be removed as defendants from a civil suit brought by a lawyer injured in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.
The plaintiff, Attorney-at-Law Moditha T.B. Ekanayake, is seeking Rs. 500 million in compensation for severe injuries, permanent disabilities and medical expenses he says he suffered in the attack. According to the plaint, he was at the Shangri-La Hotel on April 21, 2019 when a suicide bomber struck.
Ekanayake told the court he no longer intended to proceed against Fernando and Jayasundara, the third and fourth defendants, because both had already been sentenced to death by the Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar over the attacks. Counsel for the remaining defendants did not object, and the court permitted their removal.
A separate action from the criminal case
The suit is a civil claim for damages, distinct from the criminal prosecution that ended on July 31 when the Trial-at-Bar sentenced Jayasundara and Fernando to death for their failure to act on advance intelligence.
It was originally filed against 12 defendants, among them former Presidents Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Attorney General. The plaintiff alleges the defendants failed to exercise due diligence and reasonable care to prevent the bombings, and has cited the Attorney General on the basis of the State’s vicarious liability for the alleged negligence of public officials.
Wickremesinghe was removed from the action at the plaintiff’s request on an earlier occasion.
Sirisena to challenge maintainability
Counsel Pulasthi Rupasinghe, appearing for Sirisena, told the court he intends to challenge whether the action against his client can be maintained at all.
The District Court fixed the case for October 19 and directed the remaining defendants to file written submissions on that objection by then.
Sources: Daily Mirror.
