On Thursday, the Turkish judiciary decided to refer the case of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018, to the Kingdom.
“We have decided to refer the case to Saudi Arabia,” the judge of the court in Istanbul, where the trial of 26 Saudi defendants has been taking place since July 2020, announced.
For her part, Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, said she would appeal the decision.
She told reporters outside Istanbul’s main court that Turkey “is not ruled by a family as is the case in Saudi Arabia. We have a judicial system that deals with citizens’ complaints… I will appeal the decision in line with our judicial system,” according to AFP.
For his part, Jokmen Paspinar, a lawyer representing Khashoggi’s fiancée, said, “The decision to stop (the trial) is once morest the law, because the acquittal of the accused in Saudi Arabia has already been issued.”
“Moving the trial to a country where there is no justice is an example of irresponsibility towards the Turkish people,” he added, according to Archyde.com.
On Thursday, the Turkish judiciary conducted the last stage of the trial in absentia of 26 suspects in connection with the murder of Khashoggi, before referring the case to Riyadh, in a decision that was condemned by human rights organizations.
The 59-year-old journalist, who wrote articles for the “Washington Post” in which he criticized Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed on October 2, 2018, in an operation that dismembered him, and shocked the world.
The trial began in Turkey in 2020, amid strained relations between the two regional powers.
But at a time when Turkey is seeking to attract investments to help it overcome its economic crisis, its government has sought to turn the page on the dispute with Riyadh, according to AFP.
Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said last week that he would accept the prosecutor’s request to refer the case to Saudi Arabia.
The prosecutor stated that the case was “protracted” as the court’s orders might not be applied because the defendants were foreigners.
