Additional Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris on Wednesday told the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court that investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks were facing serious obstacles due to alleged intimidation of witnesses by Army intelligence personnel, while vowing that all conspirators would be brought before the court before the eighth anniversary of the attacks.
Making submissions when the case over alleged attempts to derail investigations into the 2018 Vavunathivu police killings and the 2019 Sainthamaruthu explosion was taken up, Peiris said several witnesses who had given statements before the court were being pressured to withdraw their evidence.
He alleged that after the last hearing, Army intelligence officers had visited the home of a witness and threatened the individual.
Peiris further claimed of a plan to plant weapons at the witness’s residence, and a plan had been made to arrest the person through another law enforcement unit.
The case was called before Isuru Neththikumara.
Meanwhile, former State Intelligence Service Director, retired Major General Suresh Sallay, who is in remand custody as the third suspect, was produced before the court by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
During submissions, Peiris said the Easter Sunday attacks were part of a larger organised conspiracy and alleged earlier opportunities to uncover those responsible had been deliberately suppressed.
He also told the court that investigators would not allow the case to reach its eighth anniversary without action.
“We will bring all conspirators before the court within a year,” he said, referring to the upcoming eighth anniversary of the Easter Sunday bombings in 2027.
Magistrate Isuru Neththikumara observed that the matter was highly sensitive and stressed that facts placed before the court must be capable of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
“This is not a game,” the Magistrate said, urging investigators to present evidence that would stand in court.
Counsel appearing for Suresh Sallay rejected the allegations and said many incidents referred to by the prosecution had occurred when his client was neither serving as the intelligence chief nor in the country.
After considering submissions, the Magistrate extended the remand order on Suresh Sallay and directed the CID to produce him again on the next hearing date. (Newswire)