Convictions Handed Down After Five-Year Trial
A Sri Lankan High Court has sentenced fifteen men to effective life imprisonment for their roles in the Easter Sunday bombings of 21 April 2019, a coordinated series of attacks on three churches and three hotels that killed more than 260 people, wounded approximately 500 others, and claimed the lives of 42 foreign nationals. The three-judge bench imposed sentences ranging from 200 to 260 years for murder and conspiracy to commit terrorism, rendering them, under Sri Lankan law, the functional equivalent of life terms given that the country has carried out no executions since 1976.
The verdict was delivered under tight security, with hundreds of police officers deployed around the courthouse following a trial that lasted nearly five years. Inside the courtroom, the accused appeared notably relaxed, conversing and laughing with one another during breaks and successfully requesting a prayer interval during the extended reading of the judgment. The court had earlier reviewed a video recorded the day before the bombings, in which attackers with covered faces pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, then leader of Islamic State, and declared their intention to establish an Islamic nation in Sri Lanka.
Scale of the Charges and the Sentences
In 2021, prosecutors filed 23,270 charges against 24 suspects accused of planning or inspiring the attacks. Of the fifteen men convicted in the present proceedings, fourteen were found guilty on all counts, including murder, conspiracy to commit terrorism, and possession of firearms and explosives under Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act. A fifteenth defendant was convicted on a subset of counts, while nine others were acquitted. According to the sentencing list published by Sri Lanka Mirror, one defendant received 260 years, four received 240 years, five received 220 years, and five received 200 years. The court additionally ordered the confiscation of the convicted men’s properties under the country’s anti-terror legislation.
None of those believed to have directly carried out the suicide bombings survived the attacks. The Islamic State-inspired assault remains among the deadliest in Sri Lanka’s history, devastating communities across the island and drawing international condemnation at the time.
Broader Accountability Still Unresolved
The question of who ultimately ordered the bombings has weighed on Sri Lankan public life for six years. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo described the release of several suspects in 2020 as “sad and unfortunate,” and Pope Francis personally urged Sri Lankan authorities in 2022 to clarify the full chain of responsibility. The Catholic Church’s pressure for a comprehensive accounting has never abated, and the Archdiocese of Colombo, while welcoming the current ruling, was careful to note that those convicted represent only one strand of a wider investigation.
Proceedings against senior officials have added a further dimension to the case. In July, former police chief Pujith Jayasundara and former defence secretary Hemasiri Fernando were sentenced to death for failing to act on intelligence warnings received ahead of the attacks — sentences that, under existing practice, will translate into life imprisonment. In February 2026, police arrested former intelligence chief Suresh Sallay; the Archdiocese of Colombo subsequently requested that the investigation proceed free from political interference. Sallay denies the allegations against him. A separate inquiry into alleged state links to the bombings continues, ensuring that the judicial reckoning with the events of Easter Sunday 2019 remains far from complete.