Sri Lanka Easter Sunday blasts case verdict set for mid-September
The Colombo High Court has scheduled the verdict for the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings case for September 22, 2026. Twenty-four suspects are facing charges related to the coordinated suicide attacks that killed 279 people.
Why it matters
This verdict marks a significant milestone in the pursuit of justice for one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Sri Lankan history.
The Colombo High Court has set September 22 as the date for the verdict on the main criminal case in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings , which killed 279 people, including 45 foreigners.
The bombings were a series of coordinated suicide attacks on churches and luxury hotels in the island nation on April 19, 2019.
At least 25 accused were charged for their role in the bombings. The three-member trial bar on Monday (August 24, 2026) said the verdict against the accused would be delivered on September 22. The proceedings in the case were held for 547 days with 2,309 witnesses.
As one of the suspects died, 24 suspects were indicted in October 2021.
On the Easter Sunday of 2019, suicide bomb attacks were carried out by the local jihadi group NTJ on three main churches and three leading five-star hotels in Colombo.
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