The Catholic Church rejects the claims of the former Head of State. He claimed that he did not make any mistakes that later led to the 2019 attacks. Last week, the Supreme Court had ordered him to compensate the victims.
Colombo () – Yesterday morning, the former president of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena, apologizing to the country’s Catholic community after the Supreme Court sentenced him to compensate the victims of the 2019 Easter attacks, clarified that the Court ruling does not affirm that he, during his tenure as head of state, made a mistake that led to the attacks. He pointed out that the judges found him guilty for the negligence of the officials he had appointed. “This is why the court fined me Rs 100 crores [unos 250.000 euros]”, declared the former president. “I respectfully accepted it and I am trying to pay it back as I can, with the help of my loved ones,” he added.
In the terror bombing, which killed 269 people and injured more than 500, the attackers targeted several churches and some hotels with suicide bombings.
Today came the response from the Catholic Church of Sri Lanka: “Forgiveness is not a problem for us as Christians. However, the problem is that we want to know the exact truth of the Easter attacks. What was the aim of these attacks? And who exactly perpetrated this massacre to kill hundreds of innocents?” Father Cyril Gamini Fernando declared during a press conference at the Episcopal House in the capital.
“We reject and oppose the statements of the former president,” the priest continued. “We believe that there is a conspiracy behind the attacks, as stated by the attorney general. For the good and security of the people and the country, we must discover the truth.”
On Sirisena’s part, “to say that they accused him of the acts of his officials is misleading and they are statements that distort the verdict of the Supreme Court, for this reason we oppose his statements,” Fr. Gamini stressed.
The spokesman went on to explain that “if the truth does not come out, we can expect more crimes like these to be committed by the authorities, who will try to gain and maintain power.” Therefore, we must know the truth. It’s our only goal.”
