Seven Years After the Easter Bombings, Sri Lanka Still Owes Victims Justice

On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, coordinated suicide bombings tore through churches and luxury hotels across Sri Lanka, killing at least 260 people and injuring hundreds more. The attacks devastated families, traumatised communities and left one of the darkest scars in the country’s recent history. Seven years on, the central demand of victims and survivors remains the same: to be given the full truth and real accountability.

The Justice Process: State Involvement and Unanswered Questions

There has been progress, but it has been too slow and partial. After the attacks, survivors and relatives of those killed filed Fundamental Rights petitions in the Supreme Court. Sri Lanka’s political environment shifted repeatedly between 2019 and the final judgment. During this period, investigations stalled and governments changed. It was the victims’ families’ sustained pressure attending court hearings and refusing the closure of the case. In 2023, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court found that senior state officials had violated the fundamental rights of victims by failing to prevent the attacks despite prior intelligence warnings and ordered several high-ranking officials, including former President Maithripala Sirisena, to pay personal compensation to victims. The Court also directed the government to strengthen institutional accountability, including reforms to intelligence-sharing and security coordination mechanisms, while emphasising the State’s duty to ensure non-recurrence. The UN welcomed that ruling but made clear that compensation alone is not enough. 

Victims are still entitled to the truth, full reparations and a follow-up investigation that is independent, thorough and transparent. Yet key parts of the truth remain inaccessible. Multiple presidential commissions and investigative bodies have examined the attacks over the years, but their full findings have not always been made public. Without the publication of these reports in full, victims and the wider public are left with an incomplete picture of what happened, who was responsible and whether critical evidence has been overlooked or withheld.

This year, the legal process has moved again. The main Trial-at-Bar against 24 accused finally began on 19 March 2026 in Colombo, with several victims giving evidence. But even that progress has come after years of delay, including problems around Tamil translations and the lack of Tamil-speaking lawyers. Groundviews reported that when hearings were shifted to run five days a week, defence lawyers for many of the accused withdrew, raising serious fair-trial concerns. Justice must be credible and credibility depends on a process that is fair to everyone involved.

At the same time, the investigation has taken a dramatic turn. On 25 February 2026, former State Intelligence Service chief Suresh Sallay was arrested for conspiracy and aiding and abetting the bombings. Then, on 9 April, Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala told Parliament that the Easter Sunday attacks were not an isolated act, but part of a wider conspiracy dating back to 2017. He said that Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (aka Pillayan), a former state minister and ex-paramilitary leader, had prior knowledge of the attacks. He also said that Zahran Hashim, the National Thowheeth Jama’ath leader who carried out the bombings with the other attackers, had not acted alone but was directed by a wider group. These are extremely serious claims. They raise, once again, the question of whether others beyond the suicide bombers helped plan, enable or protect those responsible.

For years, survivors, families, clergy, campaigners and human rights defenders have insisted that the truth about Easter Sunday goes beyond the bombers themselves. A 2023 Dispatches documentary brought fresh international attention to allegations that the attacks were linked to a broader political project that helped create fear ahead of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s 2019 election victory. Those allegations were denied. But with the then intelligence chief now under arrest and with the government itself speaking of a broader conspiracy, they can no longer be brushed aside. If there is credible evidence of state complicity, or of deliberate obstruction afterwards, it must be investigated without political interference.

Wrongful Arrests and Discrimination Against Muslims

The period following the attacks was marked by a serious escalation in anti-Muslim hostility and discrimination. Muslim communities faced threats, violence and collective blame, while many individuals were arbitrarily detained for months or even years, including women with children. Human Rights Watch has documented these reprisals and wrongful arrests in the aftermath of the bombings. Justice for Easter Sunday cannot be complete unless it also addresses the abuses carried out in its wake.

The case of Mohamed Milhan is a recent example. In February 2026, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court held that his arrest after the Easter Sunday attacks was unlawful, finding that there were no strong or sufficient grounds to justify reasonable suspicion under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). The Court also found that the material relied on by the authorities fell well short of establishing objective grounds for the arrest and ordered compensation to be paid by both the arresting officer and the state. Milhan’s case is not isolated. In December 2024, the Supreme Court likewise ruled that the arrest and detention of former Western Province Governor Azath Salley under the PTA was unlawful, finding that the authorities had acted on his public statements despite them not constituting incitement to violence or meeting the threshold required for detention under the PTA.

These cases show that the search for justice after Easter Sunday has been undermined not only by unanswered questions at the top, but also by serious abuses carried out in the name of security – a common theme in Sri Lanka’s history. The advocacy of victims’ families and church leaders helped sustain pressure that eventually contributed to the landmark Fundamental Rights judgment of January 2023. For many families, the court ruling was only a partial victory. Their central demand remains an independent, rights-based accountability process that follows the evidence wherever it leads (including allegations of state and/or intelligence involvement). 

SLC’s Call to Action

– An independent and credible investigation into all aspects of the Easter Sunday attacks, including any role played by state and/or intelligence actors

– Publication of the full findings of previous commissions and inquiries

– Fair, transparent and adequately resourced trials that uphold the rights of both victims and accused persons

– Urgent review and redress in cases of wrongful arrest and detention following the attacks

– Meaningful reparations and long-term support for survivors and bereaved families

– Repeal and non-use of the PTA, which has repeatedly enabled abuse rather than delivered justice

The victims of the Easter Sunday bombings deserve the truth, justice and a genuine commitment to accountability. Sri Lanka cannot move forward until it confronts the full legacy of the attacks: the failures that allowed them to happen, the unanswered questions about responsibility and the serious violations committed in their aftermath.