Special Trial-at-Bar to hear Pujith, Hemasiri cases

Colombo High Court Judge Namal Balalle has been appointed as the Presiding Judge of the panel appointed by Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya while High Court Judges Aditya Pathabedige and Mohamed Isardin have been appointed as the other members of the Judges panel.

Two separate indictments comprising 864 separate charges against former IGP Pujith Jayasundara and former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando were filed by the former Attorney General Dappula de Livera in the Colombo High Court on May 3. The Attorney General had also requested the Chief Justice in writing to appoint a Trial-at-Bar to hear two separate cases before the Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar.

The Attorney General filed indictments in the Colombo High Court against former IGP Pujith Jayasundara and former Defense Secretary Hemasiri Fernando on the basis of accountability for murder and attempted murder under sections 296 and 300 of the Penal Code in connection with the Easter Sunday attacks that took place on April 21, 2019 due to ignoring the sensitive intelligence provided by State Intelligence Service Director Nilantha Jayawardena that Zahran Hashim and his group had organized and prepared to carry out suicide bombings targeting religious places and hotels between April 07, 2019 and April 21, 2019 and completely failing to act on the intelligence.

The Attorney General had indicted them on charges of failing to prevent Easter Sunday attacks despite receiving enough information to prevent the attacks and alleging that 275 people had died and nearly 500 had been injured as a result of failing to prevent the attacks on charges of murder and attempted murder under sections 296 and 300 of the Penal Code.