Lankan ex-President Sirisena named suspect in Easter attacks

PTI

Colombo, September 16

A Sri Lankan court on Friday named former president Maithripala Sirisena as a suspect in the 2019 Easter bombings, in which 270 persons, including 11 Indians, were killed.

The Colombo Fort magistrate’s court, which pronounced the judgment, accused Sirisena of neglecting intelligence reports on the impending attack leading to the bombings.

Had prior intel

• On April 21, 2019, nine suicide bombers carried out a series of blasts that tore through three churches and as many luxury hotels in Sri Lanka
• They belonged to the local Islamist extremist group, National Thawheed Jamaat (NTJ), linked to ISIS; and killed 270 persons and left 500 hurt
• The attack stirred a storm, as the then government, headed by then President Sirisena and PM Wickremesinghe, was blamed for the inability to prevent it despite prior intelligence

Sirisena (71) will now have to appear in court on October 14.

The former president was earlier held responsible for the attack by a probe panel he was forced to appoint following pressure from the Catholic Church and the relatives of the victims.

He had denied the allegation. The special presidential probe had also found a host of other top defence officials, including former police chief Pujith Jayasundera and former defence secretary Hemasiri Fernando, guilty of ignoring prior intelligence. The panel report had recommended criminal action against Sirisena and the other officials. Ousted president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who had succeeded Sirisena, also came under pressure to implement the findings of the probe panel, where Sirisena was found culpable of committing the crime. However, he had refused to act as Sirisena had by then become the chair of the ruling SLPP coalition. Friday’s court order came as a result of a plaint filed by a victim alongside the National Catholic Committee for Justice to Easter Sunday Attack Victims.

On the third anniversary of the Easter terror attack in April, then PM Mahinda Rajapaksa had vowed that the Sri Lankan government will not rest until justice was served to the guilty behind the 2019 attacks. A month later, Mahinda had to step down in May after massive protests against him over attacks by his supporters on the anti-government protesters.

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