Sri Lanka has filed 23,270 charges against 25 people in connection with the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 269 people, the president’s office said on Wednesday.
Under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), the charges filed on Tuesday include conspiring to murder, aiding and abetting, collecting arms and ammunition, and attempted murder.
The attorney general also asked the chief justice to appoint a special three-member high court bench to hear the cases speedily, it said in a statement.
Two local Muslim groups that allegedly pledged allegiance to the ISIL (ISIS) group were blamed for the six near-simultaneous suicide bomb attacks which hit three churches and three hotels on April 21, 2019.
Another suicide bomber who had entered a fourth hotel left without setting off his bomb but later died by suicide after detonating his explosives at a different location.
The attorney general also asked the chief justice to appoint a special three-member high court bench to hear the cases speedily, it said in a statement.
Two local Muslim groups that allegedly pledged allegiance to the ISIL (ISIS) group were blamed for the six near-simultaneous suicide bomb attacks which hit three churches and three hotels on April 21, 2019.
Another suicide bomber who had entered a fourth hotel left without setting off his bomb but later died by suicide after detonating his explosives at a different location.
The head of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, has repeatedly charged that the investigation into the blasts was not being conducted properly.
He said he believes the real conspirators are still at large and has accused authorities of trying to shield the masterminds.
Ranjith wrote a strong letter to Rajapaksa last month, stating there are allegations that some members of the state intelligence services knew and met with the attacker who initially did not explode his bomb and asked the authorities to investigate.
