The Colombo Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar on Friday (31 July) sentenced former Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Hemasiri Fernando and former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara to death after finding them guilty of criminal negligence over their failure to prevent the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks despite receiving prior intelligence information.
The verdict was delivered in the case filed by the Attorney General (AG) against Jayasundara and Fernando on charges of criminal negligence and dereliction of duty for failing to act on intelligence concerning the impending attacks.
The trial-at-bar delivered a divided verdict, with Justices Priyantha Liyanage and Thilakarathna Bandara finding Jayasundara guilty of the charges.
Announcing the majority decision, presiding Justice Liyanage said that the defendant had failed to take action despite receiving prior intelligence warning of an imminent terrorist attack on Easter Sunday.
The court observed that this failure had resulted in the deaths of 268 people and injuries to another 586. Jayasundara was serving as the IGP at the time and had been entrusted with protecting citizens and ensuring public safety, the majority bench noted.
The court said the then Chief of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) Nilantha Jayawardena had informed Jayasundara on the evening of 20 April 2019 that attacks had been planned against Catholic churches and tourist hotels in Colombo and its suburbs the following day.
However, Jayasundara had failed to take measures to prevent the attacks despite receiving the warning. As the State official appointed to prevent crime, he had failed to discharge his responsibilities, the majority held. Considering the nature and gravity of the offence, the majority of the bench sentenced Jayasundara to death.
Delivering the minority judgment, Justice Viraj Weerasooriya ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against Jayasundara beyond reasonable doubt and ordered that he be acquitted.
Hearings in the case against Jayasundara concluded on 12 June while proceedings in the case against Fernando concluded on 13 June.
The case centred on allegations that both officials had failed to act on actionable intelligence warnings, provided primarily by Indian intelligence agencies weeks before the attacks, regarding coordinated strikes planned by the local extremist group National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ).
The AG indicted the pair on hundreds of counts of criminal negligence under the Penal Code, though initial efforts by State prosecutors to frame charges closer to grave crimes against humanity were scaled back by courts during earlier hearings.
Both Jayasundara and Fernando were arrested in July 2019 by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Subsequently, both were indicted before the Colombo High Court-at-Bar.
On 18 February 2022, the then Colombo High Court-at-Bar acquitted and released both officials, discharging them under Section 200(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act without calling for a defence, on the basis that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case.
The AG appealed the acquittal to the Supreme Court. In late 2024, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court set aside the High Court’s acquittal, ruling that the trial judges had misapplied procedural law, including provisions on abetment, and had prematurely halted the trial.
The Supreme Court held that the gravity of the defendants’ national security responsibilities and their documented possession of prior intelligence warranted a full defence hearing, and directed the case back to the High Court-at-Bar.
The two former officials also faced civil accountability proceedings separate from the criminal case. In January 2023, a full bench of the Supreme Court delivered a Fundamental Rights judgment ruling that State authorities, including former President Maithripala Sirisena, Jayasundara, Fernando, and Jayawardena, had violated citizens’ Fundamental Rights by failing to prevent the attacks despite clear intelligence. The court ordered them to personally pay compensation to victims’ families, with Fernando ordered to pay Rs. 50 million and Jayasundara Rs. 75 million.