The court ordered ex-President Maithripala Sirisena to appear on 14 October in a complaint filed by a Catholic priest and a worshipper. They say his negligence led to the near-simultaneous bomb blasts in three churches and three tourist hotels on Easter Sunday 2019.

The complaint was filed by Father Cyril Gamini, spokesperson for the archdiocese of Colombo, and Jesuraj Ganeshan, who said he lost one leg in a blast at a church where he was attending Easter services.

The complaint says Sirisena, who was also defence minister, minister in charge of law and order and head of the armed forces, failed to take action in response to many prior warnings that a radical Islamic group was preaching violence against non-believers.

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