- Seek interim order to halt Trial-at-Bar proceedings pending SC ruling
Four suspects linked to the Easter Sunday attacks have filed a Fundamental Rights (FR) petition before the Supreme Court, claiming that their trial has reached a procedural impasse that undermines their right to a fair hearing.
The petitioners – Muhammad Akram Ahakkam, Mohamed Hanifa Seinul Abdeen, Jazeem Zeinulabdeen, and Razik Rasa Hussain – who are currently in remand at the New Magazine Prison in Borella, state that they have been held for over six years and deny any involvement in the attacks.
In their petition, they contend that recent court directives requiring the High Court Trial-at-Bar to proceed on a continuous day-to-day basis have effectively left them without legal representation.
The directive issued by the Supreme Court to expedite proceedings in Case No. HC (TAB) 2972/2021 led to the withdrawal of several private defence counsel. Lawyers informed the court that it was ‘professionally and practically impossible’ to attend daily hearings while managing previously scheduled cases in other courts.
The petitioners further state that the scale and complexity of the case, involving 23,270 charges and more than 2,300 witnesses, requires extensive preparation and sustained legal representation, which they claim are currently unattainable under the existing trial structure.
Meanwhile, efforts to secure alternative representation have also proven unsuccessful. According to the petition, State-appointed lawyers have faced difficulties, including language barriers, when communicating with the Tamil-speaking accused, and some have withdrawn due to the demands of continuous proceedings.
The petitioners argue that continuing the trial under these conditions could cause serious prejudice and compromise the fairness of the proceedings. They also claim violations of their Fundamental Rights under Article 12(1) (equality before the law), Article 13(3) (right to a fair trial), and Article 13(5) (presumption of innocence).
They further state that they had been placed in an untenable position, forced either to proceed without experienced legal counsel, incur significant financial burden to retain private representation, or represent themselves in a highly technical criminal trial.
The petition, therefore, seeks a declaration that their Fundamental Rights have been violated, and requests an interim order staying the Trial-at-Bar proceedings until the matter is determined. It also calls for directions to ensure that the trial is conducted in a manner that enables the petitioners to obtain effective legal representation.
Four defence lawyers – Attorneys K.S. Ratnavale, H. Ghazali Hussain, Rushdhie Habeeb, and Niranjan Siriwardena – who collectively represented 24 accused persons, withdrew from the ongoing Permanent Trial-at-Bar in January.
They filed a motion informing the bench that they would refrain from representing the accused, citing limited access to their clients and difficulties in obtaining clear and detailed instructions within the available time.
The court has been presented with approximately 23,000 pages of translated indictment material in Sinhala and Tamil, while the Attorney General has also listed 184 physical items as evidence, including 76 swords, detonators, and batteries, and named 2,190 potential witnesses.
Owing to the lack of legal representation, proceedings have had to be postponed several times. However, on 2 February, the court made it clear that the trial could not be delayed indefinitely, and confirmed that daily hearings would resume on 9 February.
In light of the shortage of lawyers, the Trial-at-Bar outlined three options available to the accused to ensure proceedings continued without interruption: appoint legal counsel at their own expense, accept representation provided by the State, or represent themselves.
As a result, cross-examination in the case against 25 suspects remanded over the Easter Sunday suicide bombings has, at times, been conducted by the accused themselves during the ongoing evidence examination.