Sri Lanka convicts 15 in 2019 Easter bombings that killed 267

A Sri Lankan high court delivered guilty verdicts on Tuesday against 15 men accused of orchestrating one of the country's deadliest terror attacks. Each defendant received a sentence of at least 220 years in prison for their role in the 2019 Easter bombings, which killed 267 people and wounded nearly 6,000 across a coordinated series of attacks on churches and luxury hotels. The trial, which spanned nearly five years, concluded with hundreds of police deployed around the courthouse as the three-judge panel announced its decision amid tight security.

The bombings themselves were carried out by nine suicide attackers, none of whom survived the blasts. The attacks targeted churches holding Easter services and high-end hotels frequented by foreign tourists, deliberately striking at both the country's Christian minority and the international visitor economy. Two Sri Lanka-based Islamist militant groups were believed to have coordinated the operation, which drew inspiration from Islamic State ideology. The violence sent shockwaves through the nation and remains among its worst attacks on record.

The 15 convicted men, all from Sri Lanka's Muslim community, were charged not with carrying out the bombings themselves but with conspiring to plan them and providing material support. Authorities had initially filed charges against 25 suspects, leveling more than 23,000 individual counts that included murder, conspiracy to commit terrorism, and violations of the Prevention of Terrorism Act related to firearms and explosives. Nine of those defendants were ultimately acquitted when judges determined the evidence against them was insufficient. One suspect died before the case reached trial.

Prosecutors presented a video recording made by one of the suicide bombers the day before the attacks. In the footage, the attackers appeared with covered faces, armed with rifles and swords, pledging allegiance to then-Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. They stated their intention to transform Sri Lanka into an Islamic nation and wage war against its Christian population. Haripriya Jayasundara, who led the prosecution, argued the evidence demonstrated a carefully orchestrated campaign designed to kill Christian worshippers and tourists, and called for sentences longer than those ultimately imposed.

The verdict offered some measure of resolution for victims and their families, though the path to this moment had been frustratingly slow. Catholic priest Jude Fernando, speaking after the conviction, acknowledged the long wait: "Finally, we have justice. It has taken a long time to get to this point." Yet even with the convictions secured, closure remains incomplete for many in Sri Lanka's Christian community.

The Catholic church has maintained that the men now convicted were not the true architects of the attacks, and has alleged a larger conspiracy involving state actors. This suspicion gained credence when a parliamentary committee concluded that police and intelligence officials had received repeated warnings of the impending violence but failed to act. In February of this year, authorities arrested Suresh Salley, a retired army major general and former intelligence chief, on allegations that he had advance knowledge of the attacks and actively conspired in their execution. Salley remains in custody and denies the charges. In July, a former police chief and a senior defence ministry official were sentenced to death for their failure to promptly respond to foreign intelligence warnings of potential attacks. The defence ministry has denied any involvement in the bombings or any conspiracy to allow them to proceed.