Commission report on Easter attacks handed over to Catholic Church

The complete report of the Presidential Commission which investigated the Easter Sunday attacks, was handed over to the Catholic Church by the Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe had instructed the Minister to hand over the full report to the Church.

Accordingly Minister Tiran Alles handed over the report to the Chairman of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference Rev. Fr. Harold Anthony Perera.

Former President Maithripala Sirisena was in January found guilty in a case related to the Easter Sunday attacks, and was ordered to pay Rs. 100 million as compensation to the petitioners.

The Supreme Court ruled that Sirisena, who was President and Defence Minister at the time, had failed to take action to prevent the attacks in 2019 from taking place.

India was among the countries that had reportedly warned Sri Lanka of a plot to carry out deadly attacks on Easter Sunday but the warnings were ignored.

Former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara, former National Intelligence Chief Sisira Mendis and former Chief of State Intelligence Nilantha Jayawardena, who were holding office at the time, were also found to have failed to take action to prevent the deadly attacks from taking place despite being warned earlier.

Suicide bombers killed over 350 people at hotels and churches in Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa on Easter Sunday in April 2019. (Colombo Gazette)