Sri Lanka must find out truth of 2019 Easter blasts, say survivors and families of victims
- Security chiefs and an ex-president have been ordered to pay up to US$310,000 in reparations in a ruling that paves the way for further action
- But while the top court’s ruling marks a step forward in the fight for justice, activists says the state must do more to find and punish the culprits
Almost four years ago, Rupika Rosairo’s two daughters left the family home near Colombo in their Sunday best to attend Easter mass with their grandmother. But that evening, her 13-year-old younger daughter returned home in a coffin.
Evidence later came to light that the government had sat on intelligence it received about the imminent assault for at least two weeks, prompting the relatives of some victims to file fundamental-rights cases at Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court.
In January, the court ruled that former president Maithripala Sirisena and a number of security chiefs were guilty of “deplorable want of oversight and inaction”, and ordered them to pay amounts of between 10 million and 100 million (US$31,000-US$310,000) Sri Lankan rupees each.
Analysts say the ruling and financial reparations – described by the UN Human Rights Office as “a step in the victims’ struggle for recognition of the harm suffered, and their rights to truth, justice and reparation” – pave the road to further action by survivors and families of victims, who have been left to struggle with grief, long-term physical and emotional pain, and the lack of information as to the “true masterminds” who have torn their lives apart.
Sitting in the living room of her home in Katuwapitiya, located just 10 minutes from St Sebastian’s Church where her daughter died, Rosairo said the money from the judgment meant little to her.
