Isuru Parakrama
Colombo (LNW): The ‘leave to appeal’ application lodged by former President Maithripala Sirisena over a court order to proceed with the cases filed against him by victims of the Katuwapitiya Church bombing in April, 2019 was dismissed by the Negombo Civil Appellate High Court today (30).
The cases were filed at the Negombo District Court against a number of state-affiliated individuals including Sirisena and current President Ranil Wickremesinghe by the victims of the blast, and the Negombo Civil Appellate High Court affirmed the Negombo District Court’s order, stating that the cases could proceed with the trial against the defendants except Mr. Wickremesinghe due to him being entitled to immunity as the current Head of State.
The Negombo Civil Appellate High Court bench comprised Justices Nishantha Hapuarachchi and Rashmi Singappuli. The cases were filed over the state’s negligence towards the Easter Sunday bombing.
The Negombo District Court in its order dated December 15, 2022 declared that Wickremesinghe be excluded from the list of defendants in terms of Article 35(1) of the Constitution, and rejected the objections raised by ex President Sirisena over being cited as a defendant.
Other defendants are former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara and former Head of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) Nilantha Jayawardena.
