The Special Three-Judge High Court yesterday (24) announced that the verdict in the case filed against 24 accused persons over the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks will be delivered on September 22.
The Attorney General has filed the case against the accused on 23,270 charges, including conspiring to carry out the Easter Sunday attacks and providing assistance and support.
The judges also ordered that the case be called again on September 8 for the submission of written submissions.
The defence evidence in the case ended yesterday afternoon (24), after which the court set a date for the final verdict. Twenty-three accused, including Naufar Maulavi, began giving their statements in court on August 17. Their defence statements continued for four days and ended on August 20.
Twenty of the accused gave their statements in Tamil, while they were translated into Sinhala at the same time by Duwalin Thuwan Saddam. The remaining three accused gave their statements in Sinhala.
The case is being heard before a three-member High Court bench consisting of Judges Nawaratne Marasinghe, Sujeewa Nishanka and Ramanathan Kannan.
The prosecution completed presenting its evidence on August 13. The defence then began presenting the statements and evidence of the accused on August 17. Evidence from defence witnesses was heard for another two days.
A total of 35 defence witnesses, including the Officer-in-Charge of the Criminal Investigation Department and the Chief Judicial Medical Officer, gave evidence on behalf of the defence.
Former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara, the fifth accused, had also been named as a defence witness. However, the court was informed today that he had decided not to give evidence.
The 17th accused, Mohamed Rayuf, has died. The sixth accused, Mohamed Anwar Mohamed Rizkan, also known as “Abu Tariq,” has decided to remain silent.
Ten confessions made by the accused have been accepted as evidence. During the trial, 2,076 items of evidence were produced, including hidden bombs, explosives, swords, firearms and chemicals used to make bombs.
A large number of Government Analyst reports, DNA reports, medical reports and post-mortem reports have also been submitted as evidence.
A team of lawyers led by Senior Additional Solicitor General Haripriya Jayasundara and Additional Solicitor General Sudarshan de Silva appeared for the prosecution.
A team of lawyers including Kaneel Maddumage, Ravindu Yasas, Niroshan Siriwardena and Lawrence Adams appeared for the accused.