204th Day of the Main Easter Attack Trial – HC (TAB) 2972/21
Date: 10th June 2026|
Venue: Special Permanent Three-Judge High Court (Trial-at-Bar), 2nd Floor, MCC Building, Adhikarana Mawatha, Colombo 12.
The case was taken up before the Trial-at-Bar with all accused present, except the 17th accused, who had passed away.
The Prosecution informed Court that one correction in the proceedings relating to the 1st accused’s voir dire inquiry still required rectification and requested that Counsel Mr. Namal Rajapaksa be informed to appear in Court at 2.30 p.m. for that purpose. The Prosecution further informed Court that it intended to lead the evidence-in-chief of PW 2269 Prince Sagara Senaratne, PW 2270 Gnanaraj Polraj, PW 2271 Mohomed Rilvan Ahmed, and PW 2272 Sisira Kumara Herath on 17th June 2026, and requested summons to be issued on those witnesses. The Court accordingly ordered the issuance of summons. The Prosecution also informed Court that the witnesses appearing today had travelled from rural areas and requested transport allowances under the Victims and Witnesses Protection Act, No. 10 of 2023. The Court granted the application and directed the Registrar to inform the Director General of Victims and Witnesses in that regard. The Prosecution further informed Court that it would lead evidence-in-chief from Prosecution Witnesses Nos. 2235, 2237, 2238, 2240, 2241, 2242, 2278, 2285, 2286, and 2287, and stated that productions P820 and P821 had been received from the Sammanthurai Magistrate’s Court.
PW 2286 Adam Bawa Riswana gave evidence-in-chief from the Nindawur Safe House. She testified that Adam Bawa Siththina Umma is her sister and that, in April 2019, her sister’s house, consisting of three rooms, two halls, a kitchen, and a bathroom and situated near the witness’s residence, had been rented to three persons who introduced themselves as students of Oluvil University. The witness stated that those three persons remained in the house until the Easter Sunday attacks and left the premises on 22nd April 2019. PW 2286 was neither cross-examined by any accused nor re-examined by the Prosecution.
Thereafter, PW 2242 Abdul Raheen Mohomed Fasmeen gave evidence-in-chief from the Nindawur Safe House and identified the 2nd accused. He was cross-examined by the 2nd, 9th, and 10th accused. During cross-examination, the portion of the statement given by PW 2242 to the CID on 11th November 2019 stating, “2019.04.21 එම නිවසට යනවිට එම නිවස වසා තිබුණා,” was marked as 2D(1) as a contradiction. Subsequently, PW 2241 Adam Bawa Siththina Umma gave evidence-in-chief from the Nindawur Safe House and was not cross-examined by any accused. PW 2287 Adam Bawa Fawzdeen then gave evidence-in-chief from the same location, testified that on 7th April 2019 two persons had approached him seeking a house for rent, and stated that he was unable to identify any accused. He was not cross-examined by any accused. Thereafter, PW 2285 Abdul Raheem Mohommed Salihin gave evidence-in-chief and testified that a revolver had been found in a bag concealed at the chimney. He was cross-examined by the 9th accused.
PW 2234 Ismayil Lebbe Abdul Raheem then gave evidence-in-chief and testified that he had rented his garage situated in Sennel Village, Sammanthurai, to a person who arrived with his pregnant wife and stated that the premises were required for storing items relating to a shoe business. The witness stated that he had received Rs. 5,000 from that person and later identified him as Nias at the Ampara Police Station. Production P820(a) was shown to the witness, who identified it as an image of his garage. He further testified that police officers and officers from the armed forces had come to his premises, requested him to telephone the said person, and subsequently opened the garage with his permission, where various equipment and items were discovered. An image depicting the interior of the garage was marked as P820(c), while an image of Nias was shown to the witness and marked as P829(A). PW 2234 was not cross-examined.
The Prosecution informed Court that PW 2235 and PW 2237 could be temporarily released, and Court accordingly released those witnesses. Thereafter, PW 2278 Seeni Mohommed Mohommed Sakeena gave evidence-in-chief and testified that she had rented her house for six days to a group of persons from Kattankudy who represented themselves as shoemakers. The image depicting the rented premises was marked as P821(b). PW 2278 was not cross-examined by any accused. Subsequently, PW 2238 Pichche Mohideen Fasali gave evidence-in-chief. Productions P829(A) and P821(b) were shown to the witness, and he was not cross-examined.
Finally, PW 2240 Jamaldeen Irshad Alee gave evidence-in-chief and testified that he was the person who had provided Nias with the contact number of PW 2278. He further testified that Nias had telephoned him on only one occasion. PW 2240 was not cross-examined by any accused.
The matter was fixed to be called again on 11th June 2026 at 10.00 a.m. for further trial.
