Sixty three suspects arrested in connection with the Easter Sunday bombings two years ago have been remanded again by a Batticaloa court.
Sixty-three suspects were not physically present in court as the country was locked down in the face of a deadly epidemic. Instead, the judge conducted the trial via video technology. The Batticaloa Magistrate and A.C.M. Rizwan has ordered that the suspects be remanded until October 28.
Six of the 69 suspects arrested two years ago on charges of having links with Saharan Hashim, who has been touted as the mastermind of the Easter Sunday bombings, have already been released. Saharan Hashim’s sister is also among the suspects in custody. The suspects who were produced before the court through video technology were remanded in various parts of the country. Most of the suspects are residents of Kattankudi, Kalmunai, Saindamaradu and Sammanthurai.
The Colombo Special High Court, which has indicted former IGP Poojitha Jayasundara and former Defense Secretary Hemasiri Pannaranandu for failing to prevent the Easter feast, has set November 22 as the hearing date for the case.
24 others indicted
The Attorney General had indicted 24 suspects, including Naufar Moulavi, in connection with the Easter attack on October 4.
The case was filed by the Attorney General under 23,270 indictments before a panel of judges comprising Damith Thotawatte, Amal Ranaraja and Navaratne Marasinghe. The Attorney General had filed the case against 25 accused, but the prison authorities had taken steps to produce the other 24 accused in court as the 15th accused was suffering from coronavirus.
Lawyers appeared for 12 of the 24 defendants, while the other defendants asked the court to appoint lawyers with a good command of the Tamil language to represent them in the case. According to media reports, 18 suspects had requested the court to order the Attorney General to hand over the documents including the indictment filed against them by the Attorney General to the Tamil party. The 25th accused in the case has requested the court to issue an order to issue the indictment in English.
The court had directed the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka to nominate lawyers with an understanding of the Tamil and Sinhala languages to represent 10 of the defendants who had sought the appointment of lawyers at the expense of the Government. President’s Counsel Neville Abeyratne, appearing for Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, representing the aggrieved party, had requested the court to order that the court order and an attached copy be given to him. The case is set to return to court on November 23.
Special statement from the IGP
The United States has indicted three Sri Lankan detainees on suspicion of involvement in the Easter attacks, and has prosecuted less than 50 of the country’s hundreds of people detained under terrorist laws.
IGP CD Wickramaratne had recently warned that legal action would be taken against those who criticized the investigation into the Easter Sunday attack, saying that 311 of the 723 people arrested in connection with the attack were still in remand custody. “Of the 723 suspects arrested during police investigations, 311 are still in remand, 360 million rupees have been confiscated and another 168 million rupees worth of property has been confiscated,” the IGP added. Since the cases filed after the police investigation are prejudicial, we are concerned about taking legal action against those who criticize and denigrate them, ”IGP Wickramaratne further warned.
The Chief of Police made his special statement after two senior police officers accused by the Presidential Commission appointed to investigate the Easter attack made statements to the media against it. Deshabandu Tennakoon, who was the Deputy Inspector General of Police in Negombo at the time of the Easter attack, has been accused by the Presidential Commission of not intervening properly to prevent the attack, and the Commission has recommended that the case be filed against Nandana Munasinghe, the then Senior DIG in charge of the Western Province. The two officials, who said the allegations were made because they were Sinhala Buddhists, had also asked the prelates to acquit them of the charges.
268 human lives
A series of suicide bombings on April 21, 2019, targeting several churches and tourist hotels, killed more than 250 civilians.
Bomb blasts at Katuwapitiya St. Sebastian’s Church, Kotahena Kochchikade St. Anthony’s Church, Batticaloa Zion Church, Dehiwala and Colombo’s Kingsbury, Shangri-La and Cinnamon Grand hotels two years ago killed at least 268 people and injured more than 500.
The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, has repeatedly stated that he is not satisfied with the legal action currently being taken against those responsible for the Easter Sunday attack.
During a visit to Italy by a 15 – member delegation including Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister GL Peiris, Sri Lankans, especially Catholics, who had gathered in Bologna, Italy, had protested that they would seek international assistance, if Rajapakse government did not take steps to conduct a fair investigation into the Easter attack and punish the perpetrators.