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| Source:Internet |
The top court in Sri Lanka has asked former president Maithripala Sirisena to complete the payment of compensation to the victims of the 2019 Easter Sunday attack by Aug. 30 or face legal action.
Sirisena told the Supreme Court during a hearing on July 15 that he had already paid 58 million rupees (some US$191,000) to the Office for Reparations and sought six years to pay the outstanding 42 million rupees.
Sirisena was fined 100 million rupees, and former inspector general of police Pujitha Jayasundara and former intelligence head Nilantha Jayawardena were asked to cough up 75 million rupees each as compensation to the victims, mostly Catholics.
Sirisena was Sri Lanka's president and defense minister when simultaneous bomb attacks by nine suicide bombers hit three churches and three luxury hotels on April 21, 2019, killing 270 people and injuring over 500.
The attack stirred a political storm as Sirisena and then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe were blamed for their inability to prevent the bombings despite prior intelligence reports.
A British television report last year said a Sri Lankan intelligence officer helped engineer the attack to influence the 2020 national polls in favor of Sirisena's political opponents.
The Supreme Court told Sirisena and others to complete the payment before Aug. 30 or face legal consequences.
Sirisena had sought an extension, citing poor financial resources.
Following a court order last year, the former president had asked the public to contribute to pay the compensation.
Hundreds of victims and their families are still waiting for justice more than five years after the worst-ever terror attack took place in the South Asian nation strategically located in the Indian Ocean.
“Other than the assistance the Bishop House gave, I have not received any relief from the government. More than the compensation, I want to know the people who are the real culprits behind the attack,” said T. Regan.
Regan lost his four-year-old daughter, Leema Rithika, while attending the Easter service in St. Anthony's Shrine in Kochchikade on the outskirts of the capital Colombo.
“After the explosion, I saw Rithika covered in blood," Regan recalled.
“Had she been alive, she would've been ten years old now. She was our little princess in the family,” Regan told UCA News, who now lives with other affected families.
Colombo archdiocese, headed by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, supports the victims. The cardinal said successive governments tried to cover up the truth behind the attack and sought an international probe into the bombings.
“Only an impartial inquiry can reveal the truth,” Regan added.
Father Jeewantha Peiris, coordinator for the Movement for Peoples’ Council, a rights group, told UCA News that the former president and top officials should be jailed for their criminal negligence.
“The real culprits are yet to be brought before justice,” the priest observed.
The Sri Lankan Church has launched a signature campaign to plead for the sainthood cause of the Easter Sunday victims.
Soon after the attack, a presidential panel appointed by Sirisena, ironically, found him guilty of failure to prevent the bombings.
\Sirisena, however, has pleaded innocence.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, brother of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, announced his presidential candidacy days after the attack and won the 2020 national election.
But his government also failed to conduct an impartial probe and ensure justice for the victims.
Source: Union of Catholic Asian News
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