Sri Lanka Supreme Court orders timely compensation from former president Sirisena to Easter Sunday attack victims News
AntanO, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Sri Lanka Supreme Court orders timely compensation from former president Sirisena to Easter Sunday attack victims

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on Monday ordered Former President Maithripala Sirisena to compensate the victims of the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks before August 30, 2024, according to local media. In January 2023, Sirisena was found guilty in a case related to the attacks and was ordered to pay Rs. 100 million as compensation to the claimants.

In 2019, the Easter Sunday attacks claimed over 270 victims when suicide bombers belonging to the local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat, which is linked to ISIS, carried out a series of blasts targeting three churches and three luxury hotels.

Following the attack, eleven rights petitioners took action under Article 126 of the Sri Lankan Constitution over the authorities’ inaction, alleging their fundamental rights were violated.

The judgment highlighted that Indian intelligence agencies had provided distinct and actionable intelligence, including the names of the attackers and details of their plans, weeks before the attacks. Despite these warnings, Sri Lankan officials did not appropriately respond, which the court deemed negligence and a failure in their duty to protect citizens.​ 

The petitioners alleged that these illegal omissions effectively betray the people and public trust by recklessly failing to take cognisance of and accord due priority to intelligence information received regarding the premeditation of the attacks, which could have been prevented if proactive and timely response had been taken.

As a result, the Supreme Court ordered Sirisena and other officials to pay compensation to the victims’ families. Sirisena’s lawyers stated that, of the Rs. 100 million that was mandated to be granted as compensation for the Easter attack victims, Rs. 58 million had already been paid. They also asked for an additional six years to pay the remaining sum. However, this request was denied.

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