2024-01-22 13:40:21
Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church has decided to canonize 273 people, including 11 Indians, killed on Easter Sunday.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjit
The move was announced by the Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjit, during the fifth anniversary commemoration of the event in 2019.
@ap
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith noted at the Mass on Sunday that a person can be canonized only after 5 years of martyrdom.
Therefore, he said, we will move towards canonizing the Easter Sunday victims on April 21 this year. On April 21, 2019, nine suicide bombers belonging to a local Islamic extremist group, the National Tawheed Jamaat, carried out a series of bombings at three churches and several luxury hotels in Sri Lanka.
No compensation was provided
270 people have been killed in these attacks. The then President Maithripala Sirisena and his top security officials were accused of inaction to prevent the attack despite receiving advance intelligence from India.
Besides, the court ordered Sirisena and top police officials to pay compensation to the victims. It is said that full compensation has not yet been paid.
Former President Sirisena has also denied the allegations against him in this matter. But for the past 5 years, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has been fighting the government for justice for the victims.
He also termed the entire investigation as a sham and a political cover-up.
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