High Court Trial-at-Bar against Easter Sunday accused commences
The High Court Trial-at-Bar against 24 accused in the Easter Sunday attacks commenced this week, with the Attorney General stating that the trial is meant to provide justice to the victims of the terrorist attacks on churches and hotels in 2019.
A total of 23,270 indictments have been filed against the accused over the attacks, which killed 278 people and injured many others.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Haripriya Jayasundara, PC, made the remarks in her opening statement on behalf of the AG before the three-judge trial-at-bar. The trial was held over three days this week, with two witnesses taking the stand for the prosecution.
The trial-at-bar comprises Damith Thotawatta (President), Amal Ranaraja and Navaratne Marasinghe. Several foreign diplomatic representatives, including those from the US Embassy were present to observe the trial.
After considering a request by ASG Jayasundara, the court ordered the media not to publish names, addresses or any other details concerning the identity of civil witnesses.
A total of 25 accused had been initially indicted, though the 17th accused has passed away. The other 24 accused are currently in remand. Ghazali Hussain, PC, who appeared for the accused, pointed out that they are currently kept at the Boossa remand prison and it is a waste of resources to transport them between Boossa and Colombo each day of the trial. He requested that the accused be transferred to prisons around Colombo. The court said it will consider the request and issue an order.
The first witness wept in court during the course of giving evidence after watching CCTV footage from the day of the attacks on a widescreen television in court. She confirmed CCTV images showing Zahran Hashim, the ringleader of the bombers, walking directly past her at the hotel where he detonated his explosives. She then described the bomb explosion and its aftermath in her evidence.
The second witness gave a detailed description of the hotel’s CCTV system and presented many visuals and screen grabs from the footage to court.
The trial will recommence
on October 18.