Sri lankan court finds 15 guilty of Easter Sunday bombings
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Fifteen men in Sri Lanka received guilty verdicts for the Easter Sunday bombings that occurred on April 21, 2019, and killed 279 people.
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court found 14 of the 24 defendants guilty of all charges, including murder and possessing weapons and explosives under the country’s anti-terrorism law. One additional person was convicted on some counts, while nine were acquitted. The attacks targeted six locations, three churches and three five-star hotels, and involved nine suicide bombers.
The defendants helped and supported the bombings, which were carried out by a local Islamist extremist group. Most of those killed were Sri Lankan citizens, but 45 were foreign nationals. Among the victims were three children belonging to Anders Holch Povlsen, the owner of the Danish fashion company Bestseller, and his wife. The children died when two bombs exploded at the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital.
Communities in Denmark held memorial events in Brande and Stavtrup to honor the children and all the victims. Sentencing for the convicted men will be determined later, with some potentially facing the death penalty, though Sri Lanka has not carried out an execution since 1976.
