Easter attacks: Justice Minister on progress of compensation payments to victims
November 14, 2023 01:25 pm
Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe on Tuesday (Nov.14) made revealed about the progress of the payment of compensation to the victims of Easter Sunday bombings by the respondents of the fundamental rights (FR) petitions filed over the 2019 carnage.
Just over Rs. 36 million out of the total amount of Rs. 311 million due to be paid in compensation to the victims as per the orders of the Supreme Court, has been received by the Office for Reparations, Minister Rajapakshe said.
Speaking during today’s parliamentary session, the minister mentioned that former President Sirisena has deposited Rs. 15 million out of the Rs. 100 million he was ordered to pay.
Meanwhile, the other respondents of the petitions, filed over the failure to take action to prevent the Easter Sunday attacks despite receiving sufficient intelligence information, have deposited the following sums to the Office for Reparations – former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara, Rs 1.725 million; former chief of State Intelligence Service (SIS) DIG Nilantha Jayawardena, Rs 4.1 million; and former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, Rs 5 million.
Notably, former chief of National Intelligence Sisira Mendis has fulfilled compensation payment of Rs 10 million he was ordered to pay, while the government has also completed the payment of Rs. 1 million to the Office for Reparations.
Furthermore, the Justice Minister highlighted that the Office for Reparations has prepared a procedure to make the relevant payments, and submitted it to the court, adding that however, the compensation can be paid to the victims once the full payments are received by the Office for Reparations.
The Supreme Court, which ruled that former President, former Defence Secretary, former IGP, former National Intelligence Chief and former Chief of SIS had violated the Fundamental Rights of petitioners, by failing to take action to prevent the Easter Sunday attacks despite receiving sufficient intelligence information, ordered them to pay compensation to the victims of the Easter Sunday attacks, early in 2023.
Accordingly, the Supreme Court ordered former President Sirisena to pay Rs. 100 million in compensation to the petitioners, former IGP Jayasundara and the former SIS chief Jayawardena were each ordered to pay Rs. 75 million, while former Defense Secretary Fernando was ordered to pay Rs. 50 million and former National Intelligence chief Sisira Mendis, Rs. 10 million from their personal money.
In addition, the judgment also mentioned that the government should pay Rs. 01 million in compensation to the victims.
The order was issued on January 12, 2023, by a seven-member Supreme Court Judge bench, delivering its decision with regard to the 12 petitions filed by various parties stating that their fundamental rights were violated by negligence and failure to prevent the terrorist attacks on April 21, 2019.
