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Sri Lanka’s ex-police chief sentenced to death over 2019 Easter bombings

A Sri Lanka court sentenced former police chief Pujith Jayasundara to death on Friday for failing to prevent the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, which killed…

By Samantha Johnson / July 31, 2026

A Sri Lanka court sentenced former police chief Pujith Jayasundara to death on Friday for failing to prevent the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, which killed 279 people including 45 foreigners.

In a majority decision, a three-judge bench ruled that the former inspector general had failed in his duties to stop the deadly attacks, blamed on a home-grown Islamist extremist group.

Jayasundara, 66, can appeal against his sentence in the Supreme Court.

Sri Lanka has not carried out the death sentence since 1976, maintaining an unofficial moratorium on capital punishment.

Sri Lankan police officers inspect the site of a fatal bombing at a hotel in Colombo in 2019. Photo: AP
Sri Lankan police officers inspect the site of a fatal bombing at a hotel in Colombo in 2019. Photo: AP

There are around 800 people on death row, according to government figures shared with parliament in February, with sentences usually commuted to life imprisonment.

Friday’s judgement at the special fast track court came after the state appealed against a 2022 decision that acquitted Jayasundara as well as the defence secretary at the time of the attacks, Hemasiri Fernando.

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