A three-judge trial court has convicted and sentenced former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara and former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando to death for failing to act on intelligence warnings before the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks.
A Colombo Trial-at-Bar has delivered death sentences to former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara and former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, finding them guilty of criminal dereliction of duty and related offences connected to the 2019 Easter Sunday terrorist attacks. The convictions came after the Supreme Court ordered retrials of both officials, having previously set aside their acquittals on procedural grounds.
The original Trial-at-Bar had acquitted both men in February 2022 without requiring them to present their defence. The Attorney General challenged this decision before the Supreme Court, arguing the acquittals were contrary to law. The Supreme Court agreed, ruling that the accused should have been given the opportunity to mount a defence before any verdict was delivered.
Following the retrials, the three-judge panel—comprising Judges Priyantha Liyanage, Viraj Weerasuriya and Tilakaratne Bandara—found both officials had failed to take preventive action despite receiving prior intelligence warnings. However, the bench was not unanimous on all counts. While Fernando was convicted by the full panel, Jayasundara's conviction was decided by majority vote, with Judge Weerasuriya dissenting and acquitting the former police chief. The prosecution had separately charged both men with criminal negligence and criminal dereliction of duty arising from their alleged failure to act on intelligence information warning of the imminent attacks.
