Sri Lanka Court Finds Fifteen Guilty in Landmark Verdict Over 2019 Easter Sunday Bombings

A police commando stands guard at the High Court complex before a verdict related to the 2019 Easter bombings in Colombo, Sri Lanka on September 22, 2026. Fifteen of the 24 individuals accused of direct involvement in the tragic 2019 Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka have been convicted of serious offenses, including murder and conspiracy to commit terrorism. This overview examines the court's verdict, the progression of the legal proceedings, and the persistent questions surrounding prior intelligence failures.

What does the verdict say?
The three-judge panel in Sri Lanka’s High Court determined that 14 of the defendants were fully guilty on all counts, which encompassed murder, conspiracy to commit terrorism, and the unlawful possession of firearms and explosives under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. A 15th defendant was convicted on a subset of charges, while nine others were cleared of any wrongdoing regarding aiding and abetting the suicide bombers. Originally, 25 men faced charges, though one passed away while in custody. Police had compiled more than 23,000 charges against the suspects, all of whom maintained their innocence. The presiding judge announced that sentencing would be formally issued later on Tuesday.

What happened in the bombings?
On Easter Sunday in 2019, a wave of six nearly simultaneous explosions targeted churches and hotels, resulting in 279 deaths and making it the deadliest attack in Sri Lanka since the conclusion of the civil war in 2009. At least 450 individuals sustained injuries, and officials subsequently pointed to a local armed group as the orchestrators of the suicide missions. The majority of the fatalities occurred inside three churches where congregants had gathered for Easter services. Three additional blasts struck prominent luxury establishments in the capital city of Colombo—specifically the Cinnamon Grand, the Kingsbury, and the Shangri-La—killing at least 45 people, among them foreign tourists. The victims included nationals from Japan, the Netherlands, China, Britain, the United States, and Portugal. All accused individuals belong to Sri Lanka’s minority Muslim community.

How did the legal case unfold?
The trial officially commenced in November 2021, with prosecutors identifying Naufer Moulavi as the mastermind behind the attacks. Moulavi initially submitted a voluntary confession detailing his participation, which the court accepted. However, he later contested the statement, claiming he was never shown the document he signed, and formally retracted his admissions while rejecting all allegations. Ultimately, Moulavi was among the 14 individuals found guilty on all charges during Tuesday's ruling. Throughout the proceedings, over 2,300 witnesses testified for the prosecution alongside 2,076 pieces of physical evidence, which included explosives, swords, and firearms. Additionally, former Police Chief Pujith Jayasundara and former Defence Ministry Secretary Hemasiri Fernando were previously sentenced to death by the High Court last month after being convicted of criminal negligence, a ruling their lawyer, Chaminda Athukorale, stated they intend to appeal.

What did the Supreme Court rule in 2023 about the government’s role in the bombings?
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court delivered a ruling stating that former President Maithripala Sirisena and four other senior officials neglected to stop the bombings despite possessing actionable advance intelligence, ordering them to pay financial compensation to the victims. President Sirisena was directed to pay 100 million rupees ($273,300) from his personal finances to the families who initiated the civil lawsuit. Furthermore, former Police Chief Jayasundara, two senior intelligence figures, and former Defence Ministry Secretary Fernando were mandated to pay a combined total of 210 million rupees ($574,000). The seven-judge bench concluded that Sirisena failed to implement adequate preventative security measures despite receiving clear intelligence warnings two weeks prior. The court also noted that Sirisena, acting as defense minister and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, neglected to convene regular national security council meetings and excluded crucial personnel from the sessions he did host.

What else has been discovered about these bombings?
In February of this year, Retired Major-General Suresh Sallay, the nation's former intelligence chief, faced arrest over his suspected ties to the bombings. Sallay, who was elevated to head the State Intelligence Service (SIS) in 2019 following the presidential election victory of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has consistently denied accusations of conspiring or assisting in the coordinated suicide operations. An investigating officer told the AFP news agency at the time that Sallay was detained on allegations of conspiracy and aiding and abetting the Easter Sunday attacks, with inquiries remaining active. A 2003—noted as 2023 in documentation—investigation by British broadcaster Channel 4 alleged that Sallay maintained connections with the bombers and met them prior to the incident, citing a whistleblower who claimed the attacks were permitted to occur to sway the presidential election toward Rajapaksa. Just two days following the blasts, Rajapaksa announced his presidential bid and secured a landslide victory in November after pledging to eradicate violence. Rajapaksa's administration eventually faced intense public pressure three years later due to widespread economic protests in Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church has frequently challenged the official trajectory of the investigations, petitioning the United Nations for an international inquiry. During a 2022 address to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith called for an independent investigative framework, stating that subsequent findings suggest the massacre extended beyond local extremist activity and constituted a broader political conspiracy. Additional independent reviews have similarly criticized authorities for disregarding specific warnings issued by an Indian intelligence agency regarding an imminent threat.