Sri Lankan court convicts fifteen men over attacks
The ruling comes more than seven years after the deadly Easter bombings at churches and hotels.
A court in Sri Lanka has found fifteen men guilty of involvement in the Easter Sunday attacks in 2019. More than 260 people were killed and around 500 injured in the attacks.
The ruling was delivered in Colombo on Tuesday. The attacks on 21 April 2019 struck three churches and three hotels during Easter services and celebrations. Among the dead were 42 foreigners. The attacks were among the deadliest terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka’s recent history.
According to news agency AP, the men were allegedly involved in preparing for or supporting the attacks. The people who actually detonated the bombs are no longer alive, according to AP. The court therefore did not necessarily rule on who bore full organisational responsibility.
The attacks were linked to two Islamic militant groups from Sri Lanka and to inspiration from Islamic State. The precise relationship between local perpetrators, supporters and any possible backers has remained the subject of prolonged legal and political debate in Sri Lanka.
In 2021, 23,270 charges were filed against 24 suspects, according to AP. The charges included murder, conspiracy to commit terrorism, and possession of weapons and explosives. Tuesday’s ruling concerns fifteen men; the available public sources do not show that this means all legal proceedings related to the attacks have been completed.
The ruling comes after a former police chief and a former senior Defence Ministry official were also sentenced to death in July for negligence. They allegedly failed to act sufficiently after foreign warnings of possible attacks. Sri Lanka has had a moratorium on executions since 1976, meaning death sentences are generally not actually carried out.
Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church has argued, according to AP, that the perpetrators identified so far were not the main people responsible and that a larger conspiracy may have been behind the attacks. AP reports that the church did not substantiate that claim with evidence. The claim has therefore not been presented as fact.
For relatives of the victims and survivors, the ruling is another formal step in a case of considerable political and social importance. At the same time, the ruling does not automatically make clear which shortcomings in the security chain contributed to the attacks. The individual verdicts, reasoning and any appeals therefore remain important.
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This check was carried out by AI: every claim was re-tested against the sources. Even an approved article can contain errors — stay critical.
The text follows current AP reporting and clearly distinguishes between proven judicial involvement, allegations and unanswered questions. Unsubstantiated conspiracy claims have not been presented as fact.
- confirmed A Sri Lankan court has found fifteen men guilty of involvement in the 2019 attacks. — Current reporting by AP. source
- confirmed More than 260 people were killed and around 500 injured in the attacks. — Figure cited by AP. source
- confirmed The attacks struck three churches and three hotels. — AP’s description of the attacks. source
- confirmed A former police chief and a senior defence official were sentenced to death in July for negligence. — An earlier AP report on the ruling. source
- confirmed Sri Lanka has carried out no executions since 1976. — Mentioned in AP reporting on the earlier death sentences. source
Editor's note
The conviction of fifteen men, the victim figures and the context of earlier convictions have been confirmed. The available sources do not yet provide full reasoning for the verdict or a definitive answer to who organised and directed the attacks.Sources
More on this in Dutch media
- AD — „sri lanka”
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- RTL Nieuws — „sri lanka”