Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles has handed over the complete report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) that investigated the Easter Sunday terror attacks of 21 April 2019, to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Sri Lanka (CBCSL).
Speaking to The Daily Morning, an official of the Ministry of Public Security said that the report had been handed over to CBCSL President and Kurunegala Bishop, Harold Anthony Perera, with the approval of the President and Minister of Defence, Ranil Wickremesinghe.
When contacted by The Daily Morning, the National Director of Communications of the CBCSL, Jude Chrishantha Fernando confirmed the receipt of the said report in the form of six compact discs (CDs). “Perera has received six CDs. Alles has informed that those CDs contain the complete report of the CoI. We will make a statement after referring to them,” he said.
The CoI was appointed to investigate the said terror attacks by then President and incumbent Opposition Parliamentarian Maithripala Sirisena. It has made several recommendations including the filing of criminal charges against Sirisena, former Defence Ministry Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara, former State Intelligence Service Director, Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (SDIG) Nilantha Jayawardena, former Chief of National Intelligence, retired DIG Sisira Mendis and several others.
The final report of the CoI was tabled in the Parliament on 8 April 2021, but the witness records were not released, reportedly due to legal reasons. In February 2022, all the volumes of the report including the related witness records were handed over to the Speaker of the Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana. However, several parties including the Church had been accusing the Government of not releasing certain sections of the report, in an alleged attempt to cover up the truth behind the terror attacks.
On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, three Churches (St. Sebastian’s in Katuwapitiya, St. Anthony’s in Kochchikade, and the Zion Church in Batticaloa) and three luxury Hotels in Colombo (Cinnamon Grand, The Kingsbury, and Shangri-La) were targeted in a series of coordinated suicide bombings. Later that day, another two bomb explosions took place at a house in Dematagoda and the Tropical Inn Lodge in Dehiwala. A total of 269 people were killed in the bombings, including about 45 foreign nationals, while at least 500 were injured.