Sri Lanka court case over 2019 Easter bombings nears conclusion

Sri Lanka is set to conclude on Tuesday the trial of 24 men accused of plotting the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, the South China Morning Post reports. The case concerns the attacks of April 21, 2019, when suicide bombers struck three luxury hotels and three churches. The bombings killed 279 people, including 45 foreigners, making them the deadliest attack against civilians in Sri Lanka’s history, according to the supplied report.

Investigators have blamed the attacks on a home-grown Islamist extremist group. The defendants are all from Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority, the report says, while stressing that the trial concerns alleged involvement in the bombings. A total of 25 men were indicted over the alleged plot, but one of them died in custody.

The death reduced the number of men facing the trial to 24. The available material does not provide the defendants’ names, the specific charges against each man, the evidence presented in court or the prosecution’s requested sentences. It also does not state whether a verdict is expected on Tuesday or whether the proceeding’s conclusion will mark a separate stage before judgment.

The trial’s scheduled conclusion comes more than seven years after the attacks, which targeted both religious sites and hotels. The supplied report gives no further details about the families of victims, survivors or the court’s next steps.