• The Attorney General had filed indictments in the High Court comprising  800 charges on two separate trials against former IGP and former Defence Secretary

By T. Farook Thajudeen   

 The Chief Justice has appointed a three member Trial-at-Bar bench of the Colombo High Court to hear the trial against former IGP Pujitha Jayasundara and former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando in connection with the Easter Sunday terror attacks.   

CJ Jayantha Jayasuriya has nominated the Judges Namal Ballalle, Adithhiya Patabendi and Mohamed Irshadeen to the trial-at-bar that hears Easter Sunday bomb attacks.   

 The Attorney General had filed indictments in the High Court comprising 800 charges on two separate trials against former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara and former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando accusing them for offences of murder and attempted murder, for their serious lapses and grave omissions to prevent the Easter Sunday bomb attacks that took place on April 21, 2019.   

The CJ named the three judges to the trial–at bar on the request of the AG. The two accused were indicted for accountability of murder and attempted murder under sections 296 and 300 of the Penal Code in connection with the Easter Sunday attacks that took place on April 21, 2019.   

They were indicted for ignoring and negligently failing to take steps on the sensitive intelligence reports provided by State Intelligence Service over a suicide attack planned by Zahran Hashim and his group targeting religious places and hotels and allegedly for failing to act on the intelligence report.   

The AG complained that despite receiving enough information the accused had not taken steps to prevent such attack where 275 people had died and nearly 500 had been injured as a result of the attacks. They were charged under sections 296 and 300 of the Penal Code.