Sri Lanka, July 31 -- The former Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, Hemasiri Fernando, was sentenced to death by the Colombo Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar today (31), over multiple charges linked to the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.

The court found Fernando guilty of criminal negligence, dereliction of duty, and aiding and abetting fatalities through inaction on intelligence warnings received ahead of the attacks.

The three-judge bench comprised Priyantha Liyanage, Viraj Weerasuriya and Thilakaratne Bandara.

Presiding judge Priyantha Liyanage delivered the majority decision in the case, convicting Fernando on 854 of the 855 charges filed against him.

The court found that Fernando had neglected the preventive responsibilities ent...