Ex-Sri Lankan president ordered to compensate victims of 2019 Easter attacks

ISTANBUL

Former Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena was directed by the South Asian nation’s top court on Thursday to pay compensation to the victims of the 2019 Easter bombings.

The verdict by a seven-member bench headed by Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya came on a plea against Sirisena and other senior state officials for “failing to prevent” the April 2019 bombings “despite receiving intelligence ahead of the attack.”

On April 21, 2019, an Easter Sunday, eight explosions targeted different locations in and outside Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo, killing at least 250 people.

Sirisena, among other officials including the former police chief, intelligence chief, and defense secretary, was asked to pay Rs100 million ($273,334) as damages to victims of the 2019 Easter attacks, according to Daily Express.

The court ruled: “A Victim Fund be established at the Office for Reparation which must formulate a scheme to award the sums ordered as compensation in a fair and equitable manner to the victims and families.”