Former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and former IGP Pujith Jayasundara addressed the Colombo Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar before being sentenced to death over their failure to prevent the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks despite receiving prior intelligence.

Pujith Jayasundara told court that he had never intentionally caused anyone’s death and accepted that, as IGP, he had responsibility for national security.

However, he said other officials connected to the matter had been released while he had faced sustained pressure and multiple legal proceedings since the attacks.

“I have never intentionally carried out any duty that caused injustice or harm to anyone,” he told court, appealing for compassion.

Hemasiri Fernando rejected the findings against him and argued that, as Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, he did not possess independent operational powers.

He said he functioned under the authority of the then Defence Minister and President, Maithripala Sirisena, who was overseas at the time of the attacks without appointing an acting minister.

Fernando claimed that former State Intelligence Service Director Nilantha Jayawardena had worked closely with the President and had been instructed to directly brief him on intelligence matters.

He told court that he received only two WhatsApp messages from Jayawardena on the day before the attacks and that no written intelligence report had been provided.

Fernando further claimed that Jayawardena had failed to present information about the possible attacks at an intelligence review meeting and had withheld relevant information on several occasions.

He said he did not have the authority to summon the military or impose a curfew and argued that other officials named by a presidential committee had not been prosecuted.

Fernando told court that two people would be pleased with the verdict: former President Maithripala Sirisena and Nilantha Jayawardena.

He also requested continued medical treatment while in prison, saying he was 76 years old and recovering from recent surgery.

“History will one day acquit me,” Fernando told court.

The majority of the three-judge bench convicted both Fernando and Jayasundara on 854 of the 855 charges filed against them. The minority judge held that the prosecution had not proved the charges beyond reasonable doubt and favoured acquittal. (Newswire)

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