The Presidential Commission of Inquiry on the Easter Attacks is a Presidential Commission of Inquiry in to the deadly Easter bomb attacks appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena on 21 April 2019 tasked with investigating the causes and background for the bombings. The commission is headed by Vijith Malalgoda, Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, Nugagaha Kapalle Illangakoon, retired Inspector-General of Police and Padmasiri Jayamanne, retired Secretary to the Ministry of Law and Order. [1] [2]
Based on its interim report which was submitted in two weeks, the Attorney General Dappula de Livera instructed the Criminal Investigation Department to carryout a criminal investigation against former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and IGP Pujith Jayasundera to determine if they failed to act on intelligence warnings about the attack. [3]
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), also referred to as the Lebanon Tribunal or the Hariri Tribunal, is a tribunal of international character applying Lebanese criminal law to carry out the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for 14 February 2005 assassination of Rafic Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, and the deaths of 21 others, as well as those responsible for connected attacks.
The 2007 Shinwar shooting, also known as the Shinwar Massacre, was the killing of a number of Afghan people on 4 March 2007, in the village of Spinpul, in the Shinwar District of the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. United States Marines, fleeing the scene of a car bomb attack and ambush by Afghan militants, fired on people and vehicles surrounding them, according to initial reports killing as many as 19 civilians and injuring around 50 more. The exact casualty figures have not been firmly established.
Lieutenant General Sir John Panton Kiszely, is a retired senior British Army officer who was Director General of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom from 2005 to 2008. He is a former National President of The Royal British Legion.
Patrick Kwateng Acheampong is a barrister and was the Inspector General of Police of the Ghana Police Service (IGP).
Lieutenant Colonel Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa, RWP, RSP, psc, GR is a Sri Lankan politician, technocrat, and military officer, who is the current President of Sri Lanka. He served as Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development from 2005 to 2015 under the administration of his elder brother former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, leading the Sri Lankan Armed Forces to the military defeat of the Tamil tigers, ending the Sri Lankan Civil War.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP) is the professional head of the Sri Lanka Police. He is the most senior police officer in Sri Lanka and oversees all police personnel throughout the country. The IGP reports to the Minister of Law and Order, when the Police Service is under the Ministry of Law and Order as it is currently. Senior DIG C. D. Wickramaratne is currently acting as IGP while Pujith Jayasundara is on compulsory leave.
The Sri Lanka Police is the civilian national police force of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The police force has a manpower of approximately 77,000, and is responsible for enforcing criminal- and traffic law, enhancing public safety, maintaining order and keeping the peace throughout Sri Lanka. The professional head of the police is the Inspector General of Police who reports to the Minister of Law and Order as well as the National Police Commission. The current Inspector General of Police is Pujith Jayasundara.
Mullivaikal Hospital was a makeshift hospital located in the Safe Zone in northern Sri Lanka. An alleged series of shellings and aerial attacks began on 23 April 2009 when the Mullivaikal Hospital was hit by three artillery shells. It continued on 28 and 29 April when the Mullivaikkal Primary Health Center was hit multiple times over a two-day period with six killed and many injured including one medical staffer. On the 29th and the 30th the Mullivaikal Hospital was again hit multiple times with nine more killed and fifteen injured. There were two attacks against the Mullivaikal Hospital on 2 May, one at 9 a.m. and a second at 10.30 a.m. resulting in sixty-eight killed and eighty-seven wounded, including medical staffers. On the morning of 12 May 2009 it was hit by an artillery mortar, killing at least forty-nine patients and injuring more than fifty others. All of these attacks were allegedly by the Sri Lankan Army; however, the Sri Lankan Government denied the allegation stating there is no evidence.
Attanayake Mudiyanselage Kudabanda Tissa Attanayake is a Sri Lankan politician, A former National List member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka. He was first elected to parliament in 1989. Former general secretary of United National Party, Attanayake was appointed a Minister under the UNP government in 2001 and later by Rajapaksa in 2014. He only served 20 days under Rajapaksa. He resides in Colombo.
Pallewatte Gamaralalage Maithripala Yapa Sirisena is a Sri Lankan politician, who served as the seventh President of Sri Lanka from 9 January 2015 to 18 November 2019. Sirisena is Sri Lanka's first president from the North Central Province of the country and does not belong to the traditional Sri Lankan political elite.
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic was set up by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on 22 August 2011 to investigate human rights violations during the Syrian Civil War to establish the facts and circumstances that may amount to violations and crimes and, where possible, to identify those responsible to be held accountable with a future prosecution of Syrian civil war criminals. The Commission posts regular updates via its official Twitter page.
The Constitutional Council (CC) is a 10-member constitutional authority in Sri Lanka tasked with maintaining independent commissions and monitoring its affairs. The Constitutional Council is aimed at depoliticizing the public service.
Pujith Senadhi Bandara Jayasundara also simply known as Pujith Jayasundara is a retired Sri Lankan police officer. He was the 34th Inspector-General of Police. He was sacked from the position after failing to admit the major security lapse despite possessing the responsibility which led to the Easter tragedy in April 2019. In March 2020, he retired from the police service and was approved to obtain his pension funds despite being convicted of criminal charges.
Abdul Hamid bin Bador is a Malaysian police officer who has served as the 12th Inspector-General of Police (IGP) since May 2019. He is formerly the Acting Deputy Inspector-General of Police of Malaysia (DIGP) and Director of the Special Branch (SB) of the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM).
On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, three churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital, Colombo, were targeted in a series of coordinated Islamic terrorist suicide bombings. Later that day, there were smaller explosions at a housing complex in Dematagoda and a guest house in Dehiwala. Two hundred and fifty-nine people were killed, including at least 45 foreign nationals and three police officers, and at least 500 were injured, which then resulted in the imposing of an immediate Curfew and a complete Social Media Ban by the government. The church bombings were carried out during Easter services in Negombo, Batticaloa and Colombo; the hotels that were bombed were the Shangri-La, Cinnamon Grand, Kingsbury and Tropical Inn. According to the State Intelligence Service a second wave of attacks was also planned but was stopped as a result of government raids.
National Thowheeth Jama'ath was a Sri Lankan jihadist group implicated in the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings. It is believed to have ties to the Islamic State (ISIL). President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena banned National Thowheed Jamath on 27 April 2019 and designated it as a terrorist organisation Along with Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim.
Nugagaha Kapalle Illangakoon was the 33rd Sri Lankan Inspector-General of Police, serving from 16 July 2011 to 11 April 2016. He also served as an advisor to the Ministry of Defence.
Chandana D. Wickramaratne is a Sri Lankan police officer who currently serves as the acting Inspector General of Police in Sri Lanka. He is a Senior Deputy Inspector General, who took on the role of acting Inspector-General of Police from the incumbent, Pujith Jayasundara, who was suspended for the major intelligence lapse following the 2019 Easter bombings. On 13 May 2019, C. D. Wickramaratne was approved to work as acting IGP by the Constitutional Council.
Dr. Mahinda Balasuriya was the 32nd Inspector General of the Sri Lanka Police (IGP) (2009–2011).
Dr. Trevor Percival Frank de Silva was the 24th Inspector General of the Sri Lanka Police (IGP) (1993–1995).