In a landmark legal ruling, the Colombo Permanent Trial-at-Bar today (31) handed down a death sentence to Sri Lanka’s former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Pujith Jayasundara, over his failure to prevent the catastrophic 2019 Easter Sunday suicide bombings.
The three-judge bench found the former police chief guilty on counts including criminal dereliction of duty, murder, and attempted murder. The prosecution argued that despite having access to advance intelligence warnings detailing the imminent threat, Jayasundara critically failed to act, leaving the nation vulnerable to the multi-locational attacks that claimed hundreds of lives.
The verdict comes as part of the trial surrounding indictments filed by the Attorney General against top security officials, including former Defense Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and former IGP Pujith Jayasundara, over grave security lapses during their tenure.
