202nd Day of the Main Easter Attack Trial – HC (TAB) 2972/21
Date: 08th June 2026|
Venue: Special Permanent Three-Judge High Court (Trial-at-Bar), 2nd Floor, MCC Building, Adhikarana Mawatha, Colombo 12.
The matter was taken up before the Trial-at-Bar. All accused were present, except for the 17th accused, who had passed away. The 12th, 13th and 18th accused were represented by Mr Ravindu Yass AAL.
The Prosecution informed the Court that they were experiencing difficulties in securing the attendance of Prosecution Witnesses 1413, 2257, and 2255, who had previously been summoned to appear and testify on the following day. Accordingly, the Prosecution requested the issuance of Summons to two additional witnesses. The Court granted the request and ordered Summons to be issued to P.W. 2249 and P.W. 2247 to appear before the Court on the following day.
Thereafter, P.W. 2073, former Assistant Superintendent of Police Nihal Jayathilaka, gave evidence-in-chief. Pursuant to the Court order dated 29th May 2026 regarding the statement made by the 9th accused to P.W. 2073 on 8th October 2020 under Section 16(1) of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. 48 of 1979, the Court permitted the statement to be marked as P188. However, as P188 had subsequently been assigned to another marking by the Prosecution, the statement, which had previously been temporarily marked as P (L01), was permanently marked as P (L01).
The Prosecution then proceeded to mark the signatures appearing on P (L01). The two signatures of P.W. 2073 were marked as P L01(A) and P L01(B), while the signature of Police Constable Ratnayake, who had typed P (L01), was marked as P L01(C). The signatures of the 9th accused appearing on the statement were marked as P L01(DⅠ), P L01(DⅡ), P L01(DⅢ), and P L01(DⅣ). In addition, two signatures placed by the 9th accused next to corrections made by him to inaccuracies in the statement at the time it was recorded were marked as P L01(D5Ⅴ) and P L01(DⅥ). Thereafter, P.W. 2073 was cross-examined by the 9th, 4th, and 5th accused. During cross-examination, the 9th accused suggested that his mother’s name had been incorrectly recorded in P (L01), that the necessary corrections had not been made because he had never been given an opportunity to read the statement, and that P.W. 2073 had prepared the statement with the intention of creating new evidence. The witness was subsequently re-examined by the Prosecution.
The Prosecution then requested that Summons be issued to P.W. 2256, P.W. 2294, P.W. 2298, P.W. 2248, and P.W. 2249 to appear and testify on the following day, and the Court made Orders accordingly. The Prosecution also obtained permission to amend its witness list by replacing the witness Gamini Dharmasiri Perera, who had previously been listed as P.W. 2296, with Mohammed Auwmi Mohammed Hassan Ali.
Thereafter, P.W. 1406 was then called to give evidence-in-chief. Before the witness testified, the Prosecution requested an order under Section 28 of the Assistance to and Protection of Victims of Crime and Witnesses Act No. 10 of 2023, seeking protection for the witness by prohibiting the disclosure of the witness’s name, identity, and any testimony to be given in Court to any external party, including through social media and other media platforms. The Court accordingly granted the application and ordered that no party present in Court should disclose witness’s name, identity, any part of the witness’s testimony to any external party or through any form of media, including social media. The Court further directed that legal action would be taken against any party responsible for such disclosure if it resulted in threats to, or interference with, the witness’s life or daily activities. The witness was also informed that, if any such threat or interference arises as a result of the disclosure of his testimony, he should lodge a complaint with the nearest police station. P.W. 1406 thereafter gave evidence-in-chief and identified the 4th, 5th, and 9th accused in Court. The witness was cross-examined by the 4th, 5th, and 9th accused, following which the Prosecution conducted re-examination.
The Prosecution requested that Summons to be issued to P.W. 2248, P.W. 2246, P.W. 2273, P.W. 2276, P.W. 2275, and P.W. 2274 to appear before Court on 11th June 2026. The Prosecution further requested that Summons be issued to P.W. 2234, P.W. 2235, and P.W. 2237 to appear before Court on 10th June 2026. The Court ordered the issuance of Summons in accordance with those requests.
The Prosecution further informed the Court that productions (PR) relevant to the present proceedings were currently before the Sammanthurai Magistrate’s Court under case numbers B 4596/19 and B 4597/19, and before the Kalmunai Magistrate’s Court under case number 9924/19. The Prosecution therefore requested that the Registrars of those respective courts be directed to transmit the relevant productions to the present Court, and the Court granted the request and made the necessary Orders.
The matter was fixed to be called again on 9th June 2026 at 10.00 a.m. for further trial.
