Former defence secretary sentenced to death over Easter Sunday attack failures

The Colombo Permanent Trial-at-Bar on Friday sentenced former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando to death after finding him guilty of failing to prevent the 2019 Easter Sunday terrorist attacks despite receiving prior intelligence warnings.

The court convicted Fernando of criminal dereliction of duty, murder and attempted murder.

Earlier in the day, the same court sentenced former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara to death on similar charges.

Justices Priyantha Liyanage, Viraj Weerasuriya and Tilakarathna Bandara delivered the verdicts.

The Attorney General had filed 855 charges against Fernando and Jayasundara, alleging that they failed to act on intelligence concerning the planned attacks.

The Easter Sunday bombings killed 275 people and injured nearly 500 others.

A three-member High Court bench acquitted both defendants in February 2022 without calling for defence evidence. The court held that the State Intelligence Service had not provided sufficiently specific information about the planned attacks and that the prosecution had failed to establish criminal intent.

The Attorney General appealed against the ruling.

In November 2024, a five-member Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Preethi Padman Surasena overturned the acquittals and ordered the High Court to reopen the trial and record defence evidence.

The Colombo Permanent Trial-at-Bar subsequently resumed the case and delivered its verdict on Friday.