The Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar has convicted 15 of the 24 accused in the main conspiracy case over the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, and acquitted and released the remaining nine.
The 15 were found guilty on all charges, Hiru News reported. The verdict was delivered on Tuesday afternoon by the three-member bench of Justices Navaratne Marasinghe, Ramanathan Kannan and Sujeewa Nishshanka.
What the case covered
The accused faced 23,270 charges, including conspiring to carry out the suicide bombings that targeted churches and tourist hotels in Colombo and several other areas, and aiding and abetting the attacks, the Daily Mirror reported.
Among the defendants is Naufar Maulavi, named by NewsFirst — the figure prosecutors identified as the ideological leader behind bomber Zahran Hashim.
The trial ran for close to five years. 2,309 prosecution witnesses testified, and the bench concluded hearings on 24 August before fixing today for judgment.
Sentencing still to come
No sentences have been passed. Hiru reported that proceedings were adjourned for ten minutes immediately after the verdict to take up sentencing, and both other outlets said sentences would be pronounced shortly.
Why 24 accused, not 25
Our 24 August report recorded that the Attorney General had indicted 25 suspects, while all of today’s reporting refers to 24. NewsFirst resolves the gap: one of the accused died while the trial was in progress. He has since been named as the 17th accused, Yaseem Bawa Abdul Rauff.
Update: all 24 defendants named
NewsFirst later published the full list of who was convicted and who was acquitted. The bench paused proceedings at about 7.30 p.m. and fixed sentencing for 9.00 p.m. the same night.
Update: 220-year sentences imposed
The court sentenced the 15 convicted men late on Tuesday to 220 years of rigorous imprisonment each and ordered all their property confiscated by the State. NewsFirst subsequently reported a varied breakdown of 200 to 260 years. Full detail in our sentencing report.
A separate case from July’s
This is not the trial that ended in July. That case concerned negligence by officials who failed to act on advance intelligence, and produced death sentences for former IGP Pujith Jayasundara and former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando before a different bench. Today’s verdict addresses the conspiracy and material support behind the bombings themselves.
Not reported
None of the three reports gives a death toll or specifies the charges each defendant faced. Nor do they say whether the acquitted had been in custody, or whether the prosecution will appeal. The names of all 24 were published later the same evening and are listed in our follow-up.
