All 15 men convicted over the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings will challenge both their convictions and their record prison terms in the Supreme Court, their defence counsel said on Wednesday — a day after the Trial-at-Bar handed down sentences of more than 200 years each.
Counsel Kneel Maddumage, who appeared for seven of the accused, said the appeals would be filed once the court releases copies of the proceedings, the Daily Mirror reported.
“Some of the defendants are not represented by counsel, but I requested on behalf of all the convicts that they be provided with copies of the proceedings to file their appeals.”
That request matters because several of the convicted men went through the trial without a lawyer. The sixth accused, who told the court this week that “the real culprits are still free”, was unrepresented throughout and made no dock statement at any stage.
The sentences being appealed
The three-judge bench — Navaratne Marasinghe, Ramanathan Kannan and Sujeewa Nissanka — convicted 15 of the 24 accused and acquitted nine on Tuesday, then imposed sentences ranging from 200 to 260 years and ordered every property owned by the convicted men confiscated by the State.
The prosecution brought 23,270 charges and called 2,309 witnesses over a trial that ran more than five years.
Catholic Church spokesman Father Jude Krishantha welcomed the verdict, saying it had brought a measure of justice: “We feel satisfied because the relatives of those who died were expecting justice.”
Two points of divergence
The Daily Mirror carried this report under an India Today credit rather than as its own reporting, and two details in it sit awkwardly against the record established in court.
It describes the sentences as “more than 200 years each.” That is accurate as a floor, but the bench in fact imposed varying terms — one of 260 years, four of 240, five of 220 and five of 200 — a distinction that only emerged after NewsFirst initially reported a flat 220-year figure and later corrected it.
It also states that 25 people were originally charged and that “after one of the accused died, 24 were indicted in October 2021.” Court reporting at the verdict stage put it differently: the Attorney General indicted 25, and the 17th accused, Yaseem Bawa Abdul Rauff, died during the proceedings, leaving 24 to face judgment. We have not been able to reconcile the two accounts.
No other verified Sri Lankan newsroom had filed on the appeal at the time of writing.
Background
The coordinated suicide bombings of 21 April 2019 struck three Catholic churches and three luxury hotels, killing more than 260 people — reported toll figures range up to 270 — and injuring hundreds more.
In July, former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara were sentenced to death in a separate trial for failing to act on advance intelligence. That case and this one are distinct proceedings before different benches.
