As Sri Lanka marks 5 years since hundreds died in Easter bombings, UN calls for justice

Islamist bombers hit three churches and three hotels, killing more than 279 people – including 45 foreigners – during the Easter carnage of 2019

Grieving families say they are still waiting for justice, with the UN’s top envoy to the country on Sunday highlighting its ‘accountability deficit’

Reading Time:2 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

03:51

Sri Lankan families still holding out for justice, five years after Easter bombings

Agence France-Presse

Published: 3:35pm, 21 Apr 2024Updated: 6:09pm, 21 Apr 2024

The United Nations on Sunday urged Sri Lanka to bridge its “accountability deficit” and ensure justice as the country commemorated the 279 victims of its worst-ever attack against civilians five years ago.

The UN’s top envoy to the country, Marc-Andre Franche, told a remembrance service in Colombo that there should be a “thorough and transparent investigation” to uncover those behind the Easter carnage in 2019.

Islamist bombers hit three churches and three hotels in the island’s deadliest suicide attack aimed at civilians, but grieving families say they are still waiting for justice.

Among the dead were 45 foreigners, including tourists visiting the island a decade after the end of a brutal ethnic conflict that had claimed more than 100,000 lives since 1972.

“Sri Lanka suffers from a continuing accountability deficit, be it for alleged war crimes, more recent human rights violations, corruption or abuse of power, which must be addressed if the country is to move forward,” Franche said.

A Sri Lankan soldier stands guard outside St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo in May 2019, a week after a series of bomb blasts targeting churches and luxury hotels rocked the Indian Ocean island nation. Photo: AFP

He noted that victims were still seeking justice despite the country’s Supreme Court holding former president Maithripala Sirisena and his top officials responsible for failing to prevent the attack.