MONETABRIEF — Sri Lanka’s High Court has convicted 14 of the 24 men accused of being directly involved in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, which killed 279 people.
The three-judge bench read out its decision on Tuesday after a five-year trial and said sentencing would take place later. The charges included murder and conspiracy to commit terrorism.
The presiding judge said 14 accused were guilty on all counts, while a 15th was guilty of some of the charges. Nine others were acquitted and discharged.
All the accused have been held in remand custody for more than five years while the trial dragged on.
They face a total of 23,270 charges relating to murder, terrorism, and aiding and abetting the eight suicide bombers who targeted three hotels and three churches on April 21, 2019.
The attacks also left more than 500 people wounded. 9 Colombo/Sept 22, 2026