Verdict on Easter Sunday case set for 22nd next month

The Colombo High Court Permanent Trial-at-Bar is set to deliver its verdict on the 22nd of next month in the case against 24 defendants accused of conspiring and aiding in the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks.

The trial-at-bar, comprising Justices Navarathne Marasinghe, Ramanadhan Kannan, and Sujeewa Nissanka, fixed the verdict date after the defence concluded its submissions yesterday (24).

All written submissions must be tendered by the 9th of next month.

​The Attorney General served indictments on 24 individuals in 2021 out of an original 25 named suspects, following the death of one suspect in custody.

The accused collectively face over 23,270 charges.

Previously, former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara received the death penalty from the Trial-at-Bar for criminal dereliction of duty over their failure to act on actionable intelligence warnings.

​In a parallel development, a resident of Vavuniya recorded a confidential statement yesterday before Colombo Fort Magistrate Pasan Amarasena.

The hour-long proceedings were initiated after the Criminal Investigation Department received military intelligence reports from Vavunathivu.

The statement has been sealed under court custody.