The accused of the Easter Sunday terror attack case, including Naufer Moulavi have been brought before the Hulftsdorp High Court the verdict is to be delivered by the Colombo Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar today (Sep 22).
Security has also been beefed up in the area.
The case is filed against 24 accused over the series of suicide bomb attacks targeting churches and leading tourist hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday in 2019, which killed 224 people, including foreign nationals, and injured 584 others.
The verdict will be delivered by the three-member High Court bench comprising Justices Navaratne Marasinghe (Chairman), Sujeewa Nishshanka and Ramanathan Kannan.
A total of 31 cases have been filed in connection with the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks, while investigations are underway against several other individuals over allegations including aiding and abetting and conspiracy in connection with the incident.
The case has been filed against a group of alleged Islamic extremists charged with carrying out the Easter Sunday attacks.
The Attorney General had filed the case against 25 accused, including Mohammadu Ibrahim Mohamed Naufer alias Naufer Moulavi.
Yasir Baba Abdul Rauf, who was named as the 17th accused, has since died.
Accordingly, the case is being heard against 24 accused.
As the court had decided to hear the case on a daily basis, the recording of evidence was completed after 03 years.
The prosecution case commenced on Oct. 10, 2023, and by the time the prosecution concluded its case on Aug. 13, 2026, evidence had been recorded over a total of 249 full court days.
Although 2,309 witnesses had been listed in the indictment presented by the prosecution against the accused, only around 547 witnesses were called during the trial.
A total of 23,270 charges have been filed against the accused.
The prosecution was conducted by a team comprising Senior Additional Solicitor General and President’s Counsel Haripriya Jayasundera, Additional Solicitor General and President’s Counsel Sudarshana De Silva, and Senior State Counsel Sajith Bandara, Shakthi Jagodaarachchi and Akila Dalpadadu, on behalf of the Attorney General.
Attorney-at-Law Kaneel Maddumage is appearing for the 1st, 2nd, 7th, 8th, 10th, 15th, 17th, 18th and 19th accused, while Attorney-at-Law Ravindu Yasas and Attorney-at-Law Niroshan Siriwardena are appearing for the 12th and 13th accused.
Attorney Laurence Adams and Attorney Sanjeewa Ruwanpathirana are appearing for the 20th and 25th accused.
The remaining accused do not have legal representation and are appearing in person.
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