Sri Lanka Easter bombings: 15 sentenced to hundreds of years in prison each over deadly terror attacks

A court in Sri Lanka has convicted 15 men on terrorist charges for their involvement in the deadly 2019 Easter bombings and sentenced them each to at least 220 years in prison.

The terror attacks, which targeted luxury hotels and churches as they held Easter services, left 267 people dead and wounded almost 600. The bombings, which were inspired by Islamic State (IS), were among the deadliest terror attacks in Sri Lanka’s history and sent shockwaves through the country.

Two Sri Lanka-based Islamist militant groups were believed to have orchestrated the attacks. A video, recorded by the suicide bombers the day before the bombings, showed the attackers with their faces covered, armed with rifles and swords and pledging allegiance to the then-IS leader Abu Bakhr al-Baghdadi to make Sri Lanka an Islamic nation and wage war.

The attacks were carried out by nine suicide bombers who died in the blasts. None of those who directly participated survived.

Those on trial were accused of conspiring and aiding the bombings, which had deliberately targeted the minority Christian community and foreign tourists. The proceedings had spanned nearly five years, with the slow pace of justice frustrating victims and their families.

In 2021, authorities filed 23,270 charges against 25 suspects whom they accused of planning or inspiring the attacks: three at churches, three at tourist hotels, one at a motel where an attacker killed himself, and two others after aborting a plan to attack a fourth hotel. The charges included murder, conspiracy to commit terrorism, and firearms and explosives offences under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

The verdict was finally delivered on Tuesday by a three-judge high court amid tight security, with hundreds of police deployed around the courthouse.

In total, 15 defendants, who were all from Sri Lanka’s minority Muslim community, were sentenced to more than 200 years each. The judges also ordered the property of the defendants to be confiscated.

Nine defendants were freed after the court found that the charges against them were not proven. One other died before their case reached trial.

Security personnel inspect St Sebastian’s church in Negombo on 22 April 2019, a day after the church was hit in series of bomb blasts targeting churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka. Photograph: Ishara S Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images

“Finally, we have justice,” said Catholic priest Jude Fernando. “It has taken a long time to get to this point.”

However, the completion of the trial is unlikely to offer full closure for some. Sri Lanka’s Catholic church has long alleged that perpetrators put on trial were not the masterminds behind the bombings.

Since Sri Lanka’s new government was elected in late 2024, there have been renewed investigations into allegations that elements within the Sri Lankan state – tied to former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his powerful family dynasty – may have had links to those responsible for the attacks.

Investigators have alleged the Easter bombings were part of a conspiracy to manufacture a security threat, that would create chaos and help bring Rajapaksa, a former defence chief, to power.

Rajapaksa was elected as president just a few months after the attack, on the back of a campaign that portrayed him as a strongman leader who was tough on terror.

A parliamentary committee found that police and intelligence officials failed to act on repeated intelligence warnings of the attacks. In July, a former police chief and a former senior defence ministry official were sentenced to death for failing to act promptly on foreign intelligence warnings of possible attacks.

Earlier this year, police also arrested Suresh Salley, a former intelligence chief and retired army major general, alleging he had prior knowledge of the attacks and worked with Islamist extremists before the bombings were carried out. He remains in custody but denies the charges.

The country’s defence ministry and the Rajapaksa family have denied any involvement in the attacks.

Copyright for this text belongs to The Guardian.