Sri Lanka begins trials connected to 2019 Easter bombings case

FILE PHOTO: A family member of a victim of the 2019 Easter Sunday bomb attacks reacts near a mass graveyard next to St. Sebastian's Church, one of the churches that was attacked, during the second anniversary in Katuwapitiya, Sri Lanka, April 21, 2021. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte/File Photo

COLOMBO (Reuters) - A Sri Lankan court on Monday began the first of three trials connected to bombings that killed nearly 270 people on the island in 2019, amidst appeals for greater accountability from victim support groups.

In this trial, former national police chief Pujith Jayasundara is charged with failing to act on repeated intelligence warnings of a possible terror attack.