The Court of Appeal on Wednesday took up for the first time the writ petition challenging the Prevention of Terrorism Act detention order on retired Major General Suresh Sallay, the former director of Sri Lanka’s State Intelligence Service. The bench — President of the Court of Appeal Justice Rohantha Abeysuriya and Justice Priyantha Fernando — fixed further submissions for June 4.

Deputy Solicitor General Suharshi Herath, appearing for the Attorney General, told court that the State intends to raise preliminary objections on the maintainability of the petition, specifically on whether the Court of Appeal has the jurisdiction to entertain it. President’s Counsel Sanjeeva Jayawardena, for Sallay, submitted that none of the post-Easter commissions and committees produced any evidence linking his client to the 2019 attacks, and that Sallay was attending a defence course at India’s National Defence College from January 2019 until November 30, 2019 — placing him outside Sri Lanka at the time of the bombings. Jayawardena also argued that investigations against Sallay were initiated on the basis of statements made to Channel 4 by Azad Moulana, who is currently overseas, and said those claims have no evidentiary value. He told court that Sallay had warned the National Security Council, while serving as head of military intelligence, of the growing threat of Islamic extremism, but those warnings were not acted upon.

Sallay filed the writ petition on April 6, asking the court to direct the Criminal Investigation Department to formally present charges against him or, if no sufficient charges can be established, to release him. He was arrested in Peliyagoda on February 25 in connection with the CID investigation into the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks.

Respondents

The petition names:

Sallay is being held under a 90-day PTA detention order. His lawyers argue the CID has so far failed to file charges or produce evidence sufficient to justify the continued detention.

Two parallel tracks

The writ petition runs alongside the magistrate’s case before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court, where Sallay is scheduled to be produced on April 22. The two proceedings are distinct: the writ challenges the legality of his detention itself, while the magistrate’s case relates to the underlying investigation.

Sallay’s name first surfaced in a 2023 Channel 4 documentary alleging intelligence links to the perpetrators of the Easter attacks, which killed nearly 270 people at churches and hotels across Sri Lanka. He served as SIS chief under former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The case is one of four active accountability threads being closely watched in Colombo, alongside the Mahinda Rajapaksa CIABOC notice, the Pillayan murder confession, and the SriLankan Airlines Airbus bribery prosecutions.