Sri Lankan Court Set to Rule in Easter Sunday Bombings Case

A Sri Lankan court is due to deliver a judgment against Naufer Moulavi, who is accused of masterminding the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 270 people and wounded more than 500.

Twenty-three other defendants will also receive rulings over their alleged roles in planning and carrying out the coordinated suicide attacks.

The blasts struck multiple churches holding Easter services and three luxury hotels, making them the deadliest attacks in Sri Lanka since its civil war ended in 2009.

Associates and relatives of nine suicide bombers are among the accused, facing more than 23,000 charges that include murder, conspiracy to commit terrorism and unlawful possession of firearms.

Prosecutors identified Moulavi as the attacks’ principal organiser and presented what they described as a voluntary confession in which he acknowledged his involvement.

The court accepted the confession, but Moulavi later told the three-judge bench that he was never shown the document he signed and denied the allegations against him.

More than 2,300 witnesses testified for the prosecution.

The prosecution also submitted 2,076 items of evidence, including explosives, swords and firearms.

Following the attacks, Sri Lankan authorities acknowledged a major intelligence failure. A parliamentary inquiry found that an advance warning from India was not effectively shared with the relevant agencies.

In 2023, the Supreme Court ordered former president Maithripala Sirisena to pay millions in compensation to bombing victims after ruling that he was responsible for national security failures that contributed to the attacks.

Last month, two former senior officials were sentenced to death for criminal negligence connected to the bombings. Due to Sri Lanka’s longstanding moratorium on executions, death sentences are typically commuted to life imprisonment.

For years, Sri Lankans have staged regular demonstrations calling for justice for the victims of the Easter attacks.

The Tuesday judgment comes as a separate investigation into former intelligence chief Suresh Sallay continues. Sallay is accused of helping Islamist extremists carry out the bombings.

The allegations echo claims made in a 2023 Channel 4 documentary, which featured whistleblower testimony suggesting the attacks were permitted in an attempt to increase the political popularity of the Rajapaksa family, which long dominated Sri Lankan politics.

Sallay, arrested in February, denies the allegations. Former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, elected months after the attacks on a platform promising to combat Islamist extremism, has also rejected them.

Rajapaksa, who is barred from leaving the country, has asked the court to prevent his potential arrest in connection with the ongoing investigations.

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