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

A Sri Lankan court has sentenced former Police Chief Pujith Jayasundara and former Defence Ministry Secretary Hemasiri Fernando to death for criminal negligence related to the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings. The coordinated attacks, which killed 260 people, targeted hotels and churches. The court found the officials failed to act on intelligence warnings, including an alert from an Indian agency about a possible suicide attack. This death sentence comes after a previous decision acquitted the two men, with the state having appealed that ruling. The defense has stated that both officials will appeal the verdict, citing a dissenting judgment that highlighted their lack of motive or connection to the perpetrators.

A Sri Lanka court has sentenced former police chief Pujith Jayasundara to death for failing to prevent the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings. The attacks, blamed on a home-grown Islamist extremist group, killed 279 people, including 45 foreigners. A three-judge bench ruled in a majority decision that Jayasundara, 66, had failed in his duties to stop the bombings. This judgment came after the state appealed a 2022 decision that had acquitted him. Jayasundara has the right to appeal his sentence in the Supreme Court. Sri Lanka has maintained an unofficial moratorium on capital punishment since 1976, with death sentences typically commuted to life imprisonment.