A Sri Lankan court has convicted 14 men for the Easter bombings of 2019. It was the deadliest attack in the island nation's history, killing 279 people, including 45 foreigners.
A Sri Lankan court on Tuesday convicted 14 men for the Easter bombings in 2019. The charges against them included murder and conspiracy to commit terrorism.
While 14 of the 24 men accused of being directly involved in the bombings were convicted, nine were acquitted and another was found guilty of only some of the charges. The sentencing will take place later.
On April 21, 2019, suicide bombers struck three luxury hotels and three churches in the deadliest attack against civilians in Sri Lanka's history. The Islamic State initially claimed responsibility for the attack, but investigators have maintained that it was planned and carried out by a homegrown Islamist group.
The bombings were the deadliest attack in the country's history, killing 279 people, including 45 foreigners.
Tuesday's verdict resolves one of the three major strands arising from the bombings.
In a second case, a court earlier this year sentenced former police chief Pujith Jayasundara and then-defence secretary Hemasiri Fernando to death for failing to prevent the attack despite receiving warnings of such a threat.
In a third case, investigators are probing whether elements within the Sri Lankan state were involved in the attack. They have arrested former spymaster Suresh Sallay as part of the probe. Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala told parliament in June that investigators believed Sallay was the mastermind of the attack.
According to court filings, investigators believe Sallay cultivated the Islamists and plotted the attack to create a security crisis that would strengthen political support for the Rajapaksa family. They have alleged that the bombings were intended to create chaos and portray the Rajapaksa siblings —strongman leaders credited by many with crushing Sri Lanka's decades-long Tamil insurgency— as the only figures capable of restoring security.
Sallay and the Rajapaksas have denied responsibility. The Rajapaksas were ousted from power in a popular uprising in 2022 and were subsequently driven to the margins of Sri Lankan politics in the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.
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