Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo expressed dismay over the acquittal last week of two former security officials who were charged with negligence relating to the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.
The Catholic prelate said he has no faith left in the Sri Lankan government and the country’s attorney general to investigate the bomb attacks that killed at least 279 people.
“There is no trust in the current government and in the attorney general,” said Cardinal Ranjith in a video released by the archdiocese.
“The government hasn’t kept any of its promises to do justice for the Easter attack, so we won’t be able to get the truth from this government,” he added.
“To have the justice we hope for, we must wait for the next government,” said the prelate in Sinhala.
On February 18, Sri Lanka’s High Court dismissed the charges against Pujith Jayasundara, who was Inspector General of Police, and Hemasiri Fernando, who was permanent secretary to the Ministry of Defence.
They were accused of failing to act on warnings of an imminent attack given by foreign intelligence agencies.
“Although the report of the Presidential Commission on the Easter attacks called for legal action to be taken against individuals aware of the attack and against those who did not act to prevent it, due to the misconduct of the attorney general and of his department, a situation has arisen in which justice is not served,” said Cardinal Ranjith.
“We are deeply saddened by this,” he said.
The coordinated suicide bombings on three churches, four hotels, and one housing complex on April 21, 2019, Easter Sunday, took place while Masses and religious services were held.
The suicide bombers are believed to have been members of radical Islamist groups with ties to the Islamic State.
Jayasundara and Fernando both resigned April 25, 2019, and were arrested later that year.
A prosecutor had wanted to charge them with murder in relation to the attacks, but there was no evidence to link them to the bombers.
“Even though Muslim extremists were behind the attack, the secret services and police knew it would happen. We have proof,” said the cardinal, adding that the report of the Presidential Commission affirmed the information.
Following the attacks, Sri Lanka’s former president Maithripala Sirisena created a commission to probe the incident. The final report of the probe body was presented to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in February 2021.
Rajapaksa then appointed a committee to study the report, which was not shared with the Church leaders who asked for it.
Cardinal Ranjith alleged that the government and the attorney general concealed evidence from the presidential commission.
“We have sent letters asking for those volumes. Both the previous government and the present government have acted to conceal the evidence without considering any of those requests,” he said.
Cardinal Ranjith has consistently been critical of the government’s handling of information prior to the bombing, and of its investigation and prosecution since.
In September 2021 the cardinal reiterated his call for a “transparent investigation, which ascertains instigators and responsibility for the Easter attacks.”
He said, “the Church and the entire nation, shocked by terrorism, have the right to know the truth, have the right to receive justice.”
Cardinal Ranjith said he fears that the government “does not want to find out the truth about the attack,” adding that “it wants to cover up everything and wash its hands.”
In an earlier statement, Cardinal Ranjith said the country is “still not secure and attacks like the one that took place on Easter Sunday are still possible at any time.”
