A Colombo Magistrate has warned that any refusal by the Sri Lanka Army to provide information required for the Easter Sunday attacks investigation could constitute a criminal offense, after a high-level emergency meeting between the Attorney General’s Department and the military over delays in sharing material with the Criminal Investigation Department.
The meeting was chaired by Additional Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris following a telephone conversation with the Army Commander, NewsFirst reported on Friday. The Army was represented by the Director of Military Intelligence, the Provost Marshal, the Director of Legal Affairs and three other officers, while the Director of the CID and investigating officers attended for the prosecution side.
The discussion ran for more than three hours and ended with an agreement to appoint two coordination officers each from the Attorney General’s Department and the CID to improve information flow between the two institutions.
When the matter was taken up at the Colombo Magistrate’s Court earlier in the week, ASG Peiris requested a court order to facilitate access to required information. The Magistrate said the Attorney General already holds statutory authority to obtain such material and would not issue any ruling exceeding that power. The court further noted that, because the Army is a state institution, any refusal to comply could amount to a criminal offense with legal action possible.
The development comes days after a CID report submitted to the Fort Magistrate’s Court on April 22 disclosed that Professor Rohan Gunaratna had met Pillayan three times at Batticaloa Prison between 2015 and 2021, following Channel 4 revelations alleging Pillayan’s involvement in the attacks. The CID has also reported three separate witness intimidation incidents involving military units and Batticaloa police officers.
The probe has expanded sharply this month, with Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith warning of obstruction and former IGP Pujith Jayasundara’s prison-cell statement rejected. The new AG-Army friction places the country’s military formally on notice in the seventh-anniversary investigation.
