Turkey charges 20 Saudis over Khashoggi murder

Turkish prosecutors said they have formally charged two former aides of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and 18 other Saudi nationals over the 2018 gruesome killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The Istanbul prosecutor’s office said it has completed its investigation into Khashoggi’s killing at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and has indicted 20 suspects.
The murder of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, caused international outrage and severely tarnished the reputation of Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The CIA later concluded that the Crown Prince personally ordered the murder, saying that such a high-profile case could not have happened without his approval.
The prince’s former advisers, Saud al-Qahtani and Ahmed al-Asiri, are charged with “instigating a premeditated murder with the intent of (causing) torment through fiendish instinct”. The indictment also calls for life prison sentences for 18 other Saudi nationals charged with carrying out “a premeditated murder with the intent of torment through fiendish instincts”.
All suspects however, have left Turkey and Saudi Arabia has rejected Turkish calls for their return to face trial in Turkey. It was not immediately clear from the statement if the suspects would be tried in absentia.
In December, a Saudi court sentenced five men to death for “committing and directly participating” in the murder, but the court absolved the Crown Prince of having any hand or prior knowledge of the killing. The Crown Prince has denounced his involvement: “But I take full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia, especially since it was committed by individuals working for the Saudi government”, he said.