Death Penalty Issued to Former IGP Pujith Jayasundara

Pujith Jayasundara has been sentenced to death by the Colombo Permanent Trial-at-Bar after being found guilty over his failure to prevent the Easter Sunday Attacks in Sri Lanka.

The court ruled that the former Inspector General of Police was guilty of criminal dereliction of duty, attempted murder, and murder, citing his inaction despite receiving prior intelligence warnings about the attacks.

The verdict was delivered by a Trial-at-Bar bench comprising Justices Priyantha Liyanage, Viraj Weerasuriya, and Tilakarathna Bandara. The majority decision, issued by Justices Liyanage and Bandara, upheld the charges and imposed the death sentence.

This ruling comes after a complex legal journey. In 2022, both Jayasundara and former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando were acquitted by a three-judge High Court bench. At the time, the court determined that the prosecution had not sufficiently proven criminal intent and noted shortcomings in intelligence dissemination, particularly by the State Intelligence Service.

However, the case took a significant turn when the Attorney General challenged the acquittal before the Supreme Court. In November 2024, a five-member bench led by Justice Preethi Padman Surasena overturned the earlier ruling and directed that the trial be reopened to record defence evidence.

Following this directive, the case was reheard before the Colombo Permanent Trial-at-Bar, leading to today’s landmark judgment.

The charges stem from the devastating 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, which claimed the lives of 275 people and left nearly 500 others injured. Prosecutors argued that both Jayasundara and Fernando had failed to act on credible intelligence that could have prevented the tragedy.

While the court has now delivered its verdict against Jayasundara, the decision regarding Hemasiri Fernando is still pending.

The judgment marks a significant development in one of Sri Lanka’s most consequential legal cases, addressing accountability at the highest levels of national security.