Easter Sunday blasts case: Sri Lankan court sentences each convict to 220 years in prison; all 15 to appeal against verdict

Fifteen people, sentenced to over 200 years each in prison by a Sri Lankan court for their involvement in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, will appeal their record jail sentences, a defence lawyer said on Wednesday (September 23, 2026). This comes a day after the court found 15 of the 24 accused guilty of involvement in the attacks which killed 279 people.

Nine suicide bombers belonging to the local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat, linked to ISIS, carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through three Catholic churches and as many luxury hotels on April 21, 2019, killing nearly 270 people, including 11 Indians, and injuring over 500.

The fifteen accused have been sentenced to 220 years of rigorous imprisonment each by the Colombo Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar. The court also ordered the confiscation of their movable and immovable property by the State.

The three-judge High Court Trial-at-Bar comprising Judges Navaratne Marasinghe, Ramanathan Kannan and Sujeewa Nissanka on Tuesday (September 22, 2026) found that 14 of the accused were guilty on all charges, while a 15th defendant was found guilty of only some of the charges. Nine others were acquitted.

Defence Counsel Kneel Maddumage, who represented seven accused, said they would appeal the convictions as well as the record terms in the Supreme Court after receiving the relevant documents.

"Some of the defendants are not represented by counsel, but I requested on behalf of all the convicts that they be provided with copies of the proceedings to file their appeals," Mr. Maddumage said.

Initially, 25 people were charged over their role in the bombings. Following the death of one of the accused, 24 were indicted in October 2021.

A total of 23,270 charges were brought against them, while 2,309 witnesses testified for the prosecution.

Catholic Church spokesman Father Jude Krishantha welcomed the verdict, saying it has brought a sense of justice to the victims. "We feel satisfied because the relatives of those who died were expecting justice," he said.

In July, former Defence Ministry bureaucrat Hemasiri Fernando and former police chief Pujith Jayasundara were sentenced to death for failing to act on prior intelligence that could have prevented the attacks.