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Victim Fund: Prompt action by AG in line with SC ruling in Easter attack case
View(s):The Attorney General has written to the Chairperson of the Office for Reparations on the establishment of a Victim Fund in line with the Supreme Court (SC) ruling on the Fundamental Rights petitions filed regarding the Easter Sunday attack.
In its directive to the Office for Reparations, the SC has ordered that a Victim Fund must be established to formulate a scheme to award the sums ordered as compensation in a fair and equitable manner for the victims’ families.
Hemasiri Fernando
The State and individual respondents who have been named in the judgement must make their compensation payments to the Victim Fund established by the Office for Reparations. The relevant respondents have been directed to pay the sums ordered by the SC out of their personal funds.
A progress report on the scheme of payments and the details of the payments made by the respondents and by any benefactors must be made available to the SC within six months of the judgement.
The Office for Reparations must also investigate any alleged complaints of underpayments and/or non-payments as regards the Cabinet decision taken to compensate the victims, the AG has pointed out in his letter.
Accurate information by way of a motion should be made available to the SC with regard to these matters within three months from the date of the judgement.
The SC has also directed the AG to coordinate and liaise with the Office for Reparations to give effect to its orders.
Former President Maithripala Sirisena
The Victim Fund is being established in line with the SC’s ruling over the Fundamental Rights petitions filed over the Easter Sunday terror attacks.
In its judgement, the SC found former President Maithripala Sirisena, former Defence Ministry Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara, former Chief of National Intelligence (CNI) Sisira Mendis and former Director of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) Nilantha Jayawardena had violated the fundamental rights of the petitioners in failing to prevent the attacks. The Court ordered all five to pay compensation to the victims.
Accordingly, former President Maithripala Sirisena was ordered to pay Rs. 100 million. Former IGP Pujith Jayasundara and former SIS Director Nilantha Jayawardena were both ordered to pay Rs. 75 million each as compensation. Former Defence Ministry Secretary Hemasiri Fernando was ordered to pay Rs. 50 million while the former CNI was ordered to pay Rs. 10 million as compensation. The State was also ordered to pay Rs. 1 million as compensation.
The SC also ordered the State to take disciplinary action against Nilantha Jayawardena for the lapses and failures that led to the attacks.
Pujith Jayasundara
Police Spokesman Senior Superintendent (SSP) Nihal Thalduwa said the former SIS Director would face a disciplinary inquiry in line with the SC’s order.
A seven-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, Justices Buwaneka Aluwihare, L.T.B. Dehideniya, Murdu Fernando, S. Thurairaja, A.H.M.D. Nawaz and Shiran Gunaratne delivered the verdict.
Testimony before the Court demonstrated that Nilantha Jayawardena, and Pujith Jayasundara were both aware of the potential threats by Easter Sunday attack ringleader Zahran Hashim, his cohorts and their terror group, the National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ), long before the Easter Sunday attacks, the Court stressed. Even the Defence Secretary cannot plead ignorance of the radicalisation of Zahran and his complicit partners as he had continued to receive reports regarding this from November 2018, it added.
Nilantha Jayawardena cannot put forward “a facile argument” that the intelligence he received on April 4, 2019 via WhatsApp from a highly delicate source warning of an impending attack was nothing more than mere information, the Court further ruled.
The facts established before the Court also clearly show that CNI Sisira Mendis also fell short of his primary duty of sharing intelligence, the Justices added.
Sisira Mendis
The Court also observed that National Security Council (NSC) meetings under the presidency of the then President Sirisena were sporadic and not regular.
“If one were to formulate policies with regard to national security and exercise supervision over the security echelons of the Government, the NSC was a useful tool in the hands of the President but a notorious misappreciation of the duties and functions of the Minister of Defence has led to an appalling lack of appreciation of the importance of the National Security Council. The dangers posed by Zahran and his terrorist outfit could have been effectively appreciated and dealt with had this mechanism been in place but its efficacy had been lost on the then President,” the Court remarked.
The Court added that attendance at the NSC had been determined solely by the President with no reasons given for the exclusion of key members who should have been an indispensable part of security and intelligence briefings such as the Prime Minister, State Minister for Defence and the IGP.
A father who lost two children in the tragic Easter Sunday attack is consoled outside courts. Pic by Lahiru Harshana
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