Two ex-Sri Lanka officials sentenced to death over 2019 Easter bombings

Sri Lanka's High Court has handed down death sentences to former Police Chief Pujith Jayasundara and former Defence Ministry Secretary Hemasiri Fernando following their conviction on charges of criminal negligence. The three-member bench reached a 2-1 decision on Friday, reversing a 2022 acquittal after the state pursued an appeal of that earlier ruling.

The Easter Sunday bombings of 2019 targeted three hotels and six churches across the country, resulting in 279 deaths, including 45 foreign nationals, and injuring over 500 people. A parliamentary investigation determined that police and intelligence officials had received repeated warnings of a potential attack but failed to act on the intelligence, including a specific alert from an Indian intelligence agency on April 4, 2019 regarding a possible suicide bombing.

The defence team for both men announced plans to challenge the conviction within a fortnight. Their lawyer emphasized that the dissenting judgment in the case outlined the absence of motive or connection to the actual perpetrators among the accused.

Prior civil proceedings had already ordered the two officials to pay 125 million rupees in damages to survivors. The attacks were attributed to ISIL-inspired groups operating in Sri Lanka, though the Catholic Church has suggested a larger conspiracy may exist beyond those identified as direct perpetrators. In Sri Lanka, death sentences are typically commuted to life imprisonment due to a moratorium on executions that has been in place since 1976.