Ex-Sri Lankan Leader Ordered to Pay Damages for Easter Bombings Victims

• Sri Lanka court holds ex-President responsible for bombings.
• Orders payment of damages to victims’ families.
• Bombings by local Muslim groups linked to ISIS.

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court ruled that the country’s former president and four other individuals were responsible for the Easter Sunday bombings in 2019 that killed close to 270 people

On Thursday, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court ruled that the country’s former president and four other individuals were responsible for the Easter Sunday bombings in 2019 that killed close to 270 people. The court also ordered them to pay damages for violating the fundamental rights of the victims and their families.

Former President Maithripala Sirisena was compelled to pay 100 million rupees ($273,300) from his own resources by a seven-judge panel of the Supreme Court. It also mandated the payment of 210 million rupees ($574,000) in total from the then-police chief, two top intelligence officials, and the secretary to the minister of defence.

Six nearly simultaneous suicide bomb assaults against worshippers at Easter were allegedly carried out by two local Muslim organisations that had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group.

The inability of authorities to act on nearly-specific foreign intelligence acquired prior to the attacks, which also left about 500 people injured, was attributed to a breakdown in communication created by a disagreement between Sirisena and the former prime minister.

The national security council’s regular sessions weren’t convened by Sirisena, who was also the defence minister and head of the armed forces, according to the court, and he left out important participants from the meetings he did call.

The court stated that “all of this is a harsh truth” and “strikes this court as a major omission on the part of the then president.”

Prior to now, a presidential commission had suggested criminal charges be brought against Sirisena for suspected negligence, but those recommendations were never implemented.

Several persons have been charged by the government in relation to the attacks, but the country’s Catholic church officials claim they believe there is a broader conspiracy and are asking the names of the leaders be made public.

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