Twelve people convicted of the murder of Polonnaruwa District Parliamentarian Amarakeerthi Athukorala and his security guard in 2022 have been sentenced to death by the Gampaha High Court, marking a significant judicial outcome tied to the violence that accompanied Sri Lanka’s economic crisis. The sentence was delivered after a lengthy and closely watched trial that examined the circumstances surrounding the killings during the nationwide unrest of May 2022.
The court also sentenced four other defendants to six months’ imprisonment, suspended for five years, while acquitting and releasing twenty-three individuals due to lack of sufficient evidence. The Attorney General had filed indictments against forty-two suspects in total, reflecting the scale of the investigation into the attack that shocked the country at the height of anti-government protests.
The incident occurred on May 9, 2022, in the Nittambuwa area, when widespread violence broke out across Sri Lanka amid mass demonstrations over the country’s severe financial collapse. According to evidence presented in court, Athukorala and his police security officer encountered a group of protesters who had blocked their vehicle. Reports indicated that the parliamentarian and his guard opened fire, seriously injuring two individuals.
Initial accounts that evening described a shooting in the area, with six injured persons admitted to Wathupitiwala Base Hospital. Hospital sources later confirmed that three had suffered gunshot wounds, and a 27-year-old man who was critically injured later died.
Following the confrontation, Athukorala and his security guard fled and were later found dead while hiding inside a nearby building. CCTV footage shown during proceedings captured the parliamentarian running from the scene with his armed security officer, images that became central to reconstructing the sequence of events.
Authorities subsequently carried out multiple arrests over several months as investigators sought to identify those responsible for the assault and killings. The Gampaha High Court had earlier postponed delivering its verdict on January 14 before finally announcing the judgment, bringing legal closure to one of the most controversial and violent episodes of Sri Lanka’s 2022 protest movement.
