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Justice, not compensation, will help Easter Attacks victims

01 Nov 2021

By Buddhika Samaraweera The victims of the Easter Sunday terror attack of 21 April 2019 are only seeking justice, not money or any other privileges, said the Archbishop of Colombo His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith.  Addressing a function at the St. Sebastian's Church in Katuwapitiya, one of the targets of the Easter Sunday terror attack, he said: “We do not expect a lot of money or anything to be built. We only want justice to be served.”  The Archbishop further stressed that justice for the Easter Sunday terror attack is not expected from anyone as a gift, and that it is the right of the victims to know the truth.  “We have always been saying only one thing. That is, we need to know why these people were killed for no reason. It is our right and not a gift given to us by anyone. We request the leaders of the country again and again to reveal the full story behind this attack. We, therefore, would like to remind that to the leader, leaders of this country.” Speaking further, the Cardinal went on to say that the struggle for justice for the Easter Sunday terror attack was not a struggle to create controversy. “We want justice to be served. That's all we expect.” Meanwhile, the Minister of Public Security, Rear Admiral (Retd.) Dr. Sarath Weerasekera told the media last week that all investigations carried out by the police regarding the Easter Sunday terror attack have now been completed.  He said that all the duties of the Police regarding the said investigation have been fulfilled. “The Police have completed all investigations with regard to the terror attack and handed over the findings to the Attorney General (AG). Accordingly, nine lawsuits are currently being heard in five high courts,” he said.  On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, three churches (St. Sebastian’s Church in Katuwapitiya, St. Anthony’s Church in Kochchikade, and Zion Church in Batticaloa) and three luxury hotels in Colombo (Cinnamon Grand Colombo, The Kingsbury Colombo, and Shangri-La Colombo) were targeted in a series of co-ordinated suicide bombings. Later that day, another two bomb explosions took place at a house in Dematagoda and the Tropical Inn Lodge in Dehiwala. A total of 269 people, excluding the bombers, were killed in the bombings, including about 45 foreign nationals, while at least 500 were injured. All eight of the suicide bombers in the attacks were Sri Lankan citizens associated with the National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ) organisation founded by the suicide bomber at Shangri-La Colombo, Mohamed Cassim Mohamed Zaharan alias Zaharan Hashim.  


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