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Three years since Easter Sunday attacks: Catholic Church decries attacks probe

16 Apr 2022

  • Legal action against 79 suspects with 25,653 charges
  • Investigation and legal process will take time: Defence Secretary 
  • 196 suspects in remand custody, 29 held separately on Detention Orders
  • State downplays allegations of political motives behind attack
  • Catholic church questions FBI findings on extremist-State intelligence links
  • Questions why State is dragging its feet on inquires into Buddhist extremist groups
By Skandha Gunasekara Despite a hurried attempt by authorities last week to reassure the public that investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks have yielded positive results prior to this year’s Easter observances today (17), the Catholic Church was quick to call out the Government on various loopholes in the inquiries conducted so far. Defence Secretary Major General (Retd.) Kamal Gunaratne last week revealed that 735 persons have been taken into custody thus far over the Easter Sunday attacks, out of whom 79 persons have 27 cases filed against them under 25,653 charges. Gunaratne refuted allegations by certain groups that investigations into the Easter attacks were not being executed properly and assured that relevant security agencies had been taking all necessary steps to conduct inquiries. He asserted that it was unfair and incorrect to make such allegations as it undermined the determined efforts of the officers carrying out these investigations. He said the process of investigations to the end result of prosecution and then penalties were a long drawn-out process, and explained that the first step was to gather intelligence and evidence followed by investigations into such intelligence, all of which is done by the Police and some branches of the armed forces. “Subsequent to such investigations, prosecution would take place through the Attorney General’s Department and it is up to the Judiciary thereafter to mete out justice – all of which is cumbersome and takes considerable time.” Gunaratne made these remarks at a special press briefing on Tuesday (12) to clarify what he claimed were misconceptions related to the ongoing investigations and to inform of the progress made so far into the Easter Sunday bombings. Gunaratne went on to say that of the 735 that have been arrested so far, 196 were currently in remand custody. “Cases against 81 of the suspects have been filed at various High Courts in the country including Gampaha, Kandy, Kurunegala, Puttalam, Nuwara Eliya, and Batticaloa and also at Trial-at-Bar in the Colombo and Kegalle High Courts.” The Defence Secretary further disclosed that another 29 suspects were being held under Detention Orders by the Police and Criminal Investigations Division while 493 persons have been released on bail. He then went on to deny allegations that the progress of investigations in general were slow or hindered and said that some 170 individuals had been arrested, out of whom 45 have been remanded so far – all done since the current regime was elected into power in November 2019. “A further 13 persons are being held under detention orders while indictments have been filed against six and 30 have been granted bail.” Commenting on the Easter Sunday terror attack investigations, Gunaratne said that arrests in connection with the attack had not only been undertaken domestically but internationally as well with the help of foreign authorities. He said that 52 arrests had been made in foreign nations and these individuals had been brought down to Sri Lanka. “Authorities have made arrests within the country and overseas in connection with the bombings and since coming to power, this Government, while working directly with foreign state intelligence and security agencies, has been able to bring back 52 Sri Lankan nationals who were arrested and held in various countries in connection with the Easter Sunday bombings and Islamic extremism. Legal proceedings will be undertaken after the ongoing investigations into the suspects have concluded.” He went on to say that with the help of America’s Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), activities of the Zahran Hashim had been uncovered. Thereafter, the Defence Secretary played a video made by the perpetrators of the Easter attacks – Zahran Hashim and his group of extremists – noting that Hashim reveals and answers all in the video with regard to the questions posed by various quarters on the investigations into the attacks. He then charged that it was foolhardy of certain parties to claim that members of the current Government and leadership were involved in orchestrating the bombings, as no Islamic extremist group would work to bring into power a Buddhist leader. “Personally, I don’t see in any way why Muslim terrorists or extremists would want to carry out bombings or terror attacks that would help elect a Buddhist individual as president. That doesn’t make sense to me. That is my opinion.”  Meanwhile, Presidential Secretariat Director General (Legal Affairs) Attorney-at-Law Harigupta Rohanadeera, speaking to The Sunday Morning, said that investigations were progressing well. “To my understanding more than 700 arrests have been made in connection with the Easter attacks and already charges have been filed against some key suspects,” Rohanadeera said. Nevertheless, the Catholic Church was critical of the statements made recently at the press conference by the Secretary of Defence. Spokesman for Cardinal Malcom Ranjith and Archdiocese of Colombo Media Director Fr. Jude Chrishantha said the Catholic Church had many doubts and concerns, including regarding the evidence available to prove that there was no political patronage or conspiracy involved in the Easter Sunday bombings. He pointed out that the Secretary of Defence had failed to mention that the FBI had uncovered links between Sri Lanka’s State intelligence officials and Islamic extremists in Sri Lanka. He further inquired as to what took so long to investigate if Hashim’s videotape had all the information in it. “The Secretary of Defence says that Hashim’s videotape had all the answers – then why did investigations take three years? Why was a Presidential Commission of Inquiry set up for such a long time? What did all these investigations really uncover if all was revealed in Hashim’s video?” He then went on to point out that former Director of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Shani Abeysekara in a Fundamental Rights (FR) petition filed in the Supreme Court had revealed that CID investigations had uncovered that a State intelligence official by the alias ‘Sonic Sonic’ had connections with members of the terrorist groups and that the Head of the State Intelligence had prevented the CID from questioning this individual as this officer had been conducting an intelligence investigation. “What was this investigation? What did the State intelligence service find through his investigation?” It was also questioned as to why former Chief of Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) Nalaka Silva was arrested and who was behind the allegations and incident created by Namal Kumara – who alleged an assassination plot against former President Maithripala Sirisena and current President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Furthermore, the Catholic Church demanded to know what happened to investigations into Buddhist extremism that incited riots after the Easter attacks. The Catholic Church last week issued 20 questions regarding the investigations and the Easter Sunday bombings, to which they seek answers from the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, the IGP, and the State. The State is yet to reply to the questions raised. Neither the Secretary of Defence, nor Police Spokesman Senior DIG Ajith Rohana or Police Spokesman SP Nihal Thalduwa were available for comment on these concerns raised by the Cardinal and the Catholic Church.  


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