A Sri Lankan court convicted 15 men on Tuesday over their involvement in the 2019 Easter bombings that killed 267 people, and sentenced them each to at least 200 years in prison, meaning they will spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
The three-judge High Court panel also ordered the property of the defendants confiscated and any transfers invalidated under the country’s tough anti-terror law. The verdict was delivered amid tight security, with hundreds of police officers deployed around the courthouse, following a lengthy trial that spanned nearly five years.
Deadly attacks on churches and hotels
The April 21 attacks targeted three churches and three hotels across the island nation during Easter services and celebrations. They also wounded 574 people. The bombings, which were inspired by the Islamic State group, were among the deadliest attacks in Sri Lanka’s history. They killed 42 foreigners and devastated communities across the country.
All the convicted men were from Sri Lanka’s minority Muslim community.
Charges and sentencing
Authorities filed 23,270 charges in 2021 against 25 suspects accused of planning or inspiring the attacks. One of them died pending trial. The charges included murder, conspiracy to commit terrorism, and firearms and explosives offenses under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
None of those believed to have directly participated in the attacks are alive. Two Sri Lanka-based Islamic militant groups were accused of carrying out the bombings.
In the courtroom, the accused appeared relaxed, chatting and laughing with each other during breaks. They even asked for and were granted a prayer break during the lengthy reading of the judgment.
Nine defendants were freed after the court found that the charges against them were not proven. But seven defendants had no attorney representing them and spoke for themselves.
Sentences and aftermath
In total, five defendants were sentenced to 200 years each, five to 220 years, four to 240 years each and one to 260 years, based on their involvement in conspiring and aiding the attacks.
In calculating the sentences, the court considered all seven blasts: three at churches, three at tourist hotels and one at a motel where an attacker killed himself and two others after aborting his plan to attack a fourth hotel.
The video, recorded the day before the bombings, showed the attackers with their faces covered, armed with rifles and swords and pledging allegiance to the then-Islamic State leader Abu Bakhr al-Baghdadi to make Sri Lanka an Islamic nation and wage war towards that end.
Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church has claimed, without providing evidence, that those identified so far as perpetrators are not the masterminds behind the bombings, and that there was a bigger conspiracy behind the attacks.
A parliamentary committee found that police and intelligence officials failed to act on repeated intelligence warnings of the attacks.
