The Colombo Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar has fixed September 22 to deliver its verdict in the case against 25 accused charged with conspiring to carry out the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, Ada Derana reported on Monday evening.
The date was announced by the three-member bench hearing the case. It brings the country’s largest terrorism prosecution to the brink of judgment more than seven years after the bombings.
23,270 charges
The Attorney General filed 23,270 charges against the 25 accused. They include conspiracy, aiding and abetting the attacks, collecting arms and ammunition, and attempted murder, brought under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
Among those named as accused is Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed Naufer, known as Naufer Moulavi, the first accused in the case. The trial is being heard by High Court judges Navaratne Marasinghe, Ramanathan Kannan and Sujeewa Nissanka.
The verdict date follows the defence phase of the trial, which opened on August 13 and moved to daily hearings the following week. Naufer rejected all 940 charges against him in a statement from the dock on August 17, telling the court that his confession to the Criminal Investigation Department had not been given voluntarily. Several other defendants also made dock statements rather than giving sworn evidence.
A separate case from the negligence trial
The conspiracy case is distinct from the prosecution of two former officials over their failure to act on advance intelligence. In that case, a separate Trial-at-Bar sentenced former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara and former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando to death on July 31, each convicted on 854 of 855 charges by majority decision.
The coordinated suicide bombings of April 21, 2019 targeted churches and hotels across the country, killing more than 260 people, including foreign nationals, and injuring hundreds. Ada Derana put the toll at more than 270. The attacks were followed by a Presidential Commission of Inquiry and a Parliamentary Select Committee inquiry before the Attorney General indicted the 25 suspects and sought a Trial-at-Bar.
Progress in the conspiracy trial has at points been slowed by vacancies on the bench.
Ada Derana did not report whether all 25 accused will be produced in court on September 22.
Update, August 25: Daily Mirror confirms the date — and puts the accused at 24
The Daily Mirror filed its own report on Tuesday, adding a step in the timetable that Ada Derana did not carry: the case has been fixed for September 9 for written submissions, ahead of the September 22 verdict. It also reported that the defence case concluded on Monday, August 24.
The two outlets differ on the size of the case. Ada Derana put the number of accused at 25; the Daily Mirror says 23,270 charges have been filed against 24 accused. Both name Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed Naufer, alias Naufer Moulavi, among them, and both give the same charge total, so the gap is in the headcount alone. Neither outlet acknowledges the other’s figure, and the discrepancy is unresolved. The Attorney General’s original indictment covered 25 suspects.
The two also render the third judge’s name differently — Ada Derana has Sujeewa Nissanka, the Daily Mirror has Sujeewa Nishshanka. The bench is otherwise identically reported: High Court judges Navaratne Marasinghe, Ramanathan Kannan and Sujeewa Nissanka, sitting as the Colombo Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar.
Update, September 8: written submissions filed — and Hiru puts the accused at 24
Hiru News reported on Monday that the Trial-at-Bar will deliver its verdict on September 22 following the filing of written submissions by the defendants. The Daily Mirror had reported on August 25 that the case was fixed for September 9 for written submissions; Hiru’s account indicates that step has now been taken.
Hiru gives the number of defendants as twenty-four, facing 23,270 charges. That matches the Daily Mirror’s figure and not Ada Derana’s 25, leaving the headcount corroborated two outlets to one. Hiru also spells the third judge’s name Sujeewa Nishshanka, as the Daily Mirror did, against Ada Derana’s Nissanka. The bench is otherwise reported identically across all three: Navaratne Marasinghe, Ramanathan Kannan and Sujeewa Nishshanka. Hiru confirms the Attorney General filed the case and names Naufer Maulavi among the accused.
One point in Hiru’s account does not fit the documented sequence. It states that the bench “announced the date after the written submissions were presented to the court” — but the September 22 date was announced on August 24, before the September 9 submissions deadline reported by the Daily Mirror. Hiru appears to have compressed a two-stage sequence into one. The verdict date itself is unchanged across all three reports.
