Day of Judgements and Political Fallouts
Rajan Philips The second anniversary of Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s election as President has come and gone, but not before getting marked by a spate of judgements delivered and announced on a single day following the anniversary. Far away in New York, it has been a week of speeches by state and government leaders making their […]
The second anniversary of Anura Kumara Dissanayake's presidential election has passed, yet the day is still remembered for a series of judgments delivered simultaneously. Meanwhile, in New York, UN leaders were attending their 81st Annual Sessions, marking the ninth decade of the event. President AKD, who usually attends these sessions, was absent this year. Sri Lanka was not targeted by any contentious matters, but internal issues kept the NPP government and opposition on edge.
The day was beneficial for the NPP government, as they faced no reputational damage from the three judgments. Two Supreme Court rulings dealt with the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution and the constitutionality of the Anti-Corruption Amendment Bill. The third judgment came from the Colombo Permanent High Court, following the trial-at-bar of 24 individuals accused in the 2019 Easter attacks.
The unanimous verdict found 15 of the accused guilty and released the remaining nine. The convicted were sentenced to varying lengths of rigorous imprisonment, with the heaviest sentence being 260 years. All 15 guilty parties had their movable and immovable assets confiscated.
The verdict marked a significant step towards justice for the Easter attacks victims. While the government received political credit for concluding the trial after seven years of delays, the real heroes were the law enforcement officials who built a strong case against the 25 suspects. However, the search for Easter justice continues as other trials are ongoing, and the elusive mastermind remains unidentified.
One of the 15 convicted, Mohammed Ibrahim Mohammed Nawfar, was identified by the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government as the mastermind, but this claim is not supported by the FBI affidavit from 2020. The FBI affidavit aimed to support the indictment of Naufar, Mohamed Riskan, and Ahamed Milhan for providing material support to ISIS, but they were not identified as masterminds.
The true mastermind remains unknown, and there is still no clarity on a political mastermind behind the attacks.
The Catholic Church's plea for a thorough investigation into the Easter attacks' mastermind was met with positive response from the current president and NPP government. This change in attitude comes after years of frustrations with previous presidents and governments.
Written by urgent.news from The Island Sri Lanka's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
