The Colombo Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar has fixed September 22 to deliver its verdict in the case against 25 accused charged with conspiring to carry out the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, Ada Derana reported on Monday evening.
The date was announced by the three-member bench hearing the case. It brings the country’s largest terrorism prosecution to the brink of judgment more than seven years after the bombings.
23,270 charges
The Attorney General filed 23,270 charges against the 25 accused. They include conspiracy, aiding and abetting the attacks, collecting arms and ammunition, and attempted murder, brought under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
Among those named as accused is Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed Naufer, known as Naufer Moulavi, the first accused in the case. The trial is being heard by High Court judges Navaratne Marasinghe, Ramanathan Kannan and Sujeewa Nissanka.
The verdict date follows the defence phase of the trial, which opened on August 13 and moved to daily hearings the following week. Naufer rejected all 940 charges against him in a statement from the dock on August 17, telling the court that his confession to the Criminal Investigation Department had not been given voluntarily. Several other defendants also made dock statements rather than giving sworn evidence.
A separate case from the negligence trial
The conspiracy case is distinct from the prosecution of two former officials over their failure to act on advance intelligence. In that case, a separate Trial-at-Bar sentenced former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara and former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando to death on July 31, each convicted on 854 of 855 charges by majority decision.
The coordinated suicide bombings of April 21, 2019 targeted churches and hotels across the country, killing more than 260 people, including foreign nationals, and injuring hundreds. Ada Derana put the toll at more than 270. The attacks were followed by a Presidential Commission of Inquiry and a Parliamentary Select Committee inquiry before the Attorney General indicted the 25 suspects and sought a Trial-at-Bar.
Progress in the conspiracy trial has at points been slowed by vacancies on the bench.
Ada Derana did not report whether all 25 accused will be produced in court on September 22. As of Monday evening, no other verified Sri Lankan newsroom had published its own report of the verdict date.
