Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by a team of Saudi agents, in Istanbul in 2018
Turkish authorities have suspended the trial of 26 Saudi citizens accused of killing dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018.
A Turkish judge said the case would now be transferred to Saudi Arabia, which has refused to extradite the suspects.
Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, said she would continue the struggle.
The Washington Post journalist was killed inside the Saudi consulate following being lured there. His murder at the hands of Saudi agents sparked global outrage.
A Saudi court convicted eight, unnamed people, of murder in 2019.
Thursday’s ruling comes following Turkey’s justice minister agreed to the prosecutor’s request to stop the trial, on the grounds that the defendants’ absence had hampered it. The public prosecutor said that Saudi judicial authorities had promised to evaluate the charges once morest them.
The move was criticized by human rights defenders, as an acquittal of the accused and a defeat for justice.
The decision was “apparently appalling and clearly political,” said Melina Buyum, Turkey’s official at Amnesty International.
Cengiz, Khashoggi’s fiancée, was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying that she would appeal the court’s decision.
This development comes as Turkey seeks to repair its relations with Saudi Arabia.
Relations between the two regional powers deteriorated dramatically in the wake of the murder, and led to an unofficial Saudi boycott of Turkish exports.
Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, where he went to obtain the necessary papers to complete the marriage to his fiancée.
The then-UN Special Rapporteur, Agnes Callamard, concluded that he had been “brutally murdered” inside the building by a team of 15 Saudi agents sent from Riyadh, and his body had been dismembered. It issued its report following listening to alleged audio recordings of conversations inside the consulate, recorded by Turkish intelligence.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that Khashoggi was “killed in cold blood by a death squad” sent from Riyadh, and said that “it was proven that his killing was premeditated.”
US intelligence agencies have concluded that the crown prince, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, approved an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi.
The prince denied having any role, and Saudi prosecutors blamed “rogue” agents.
A year following the murder, a Saudi court convicted five people of direct participation in the killing and sentenced them to death, which were later commuted to 20-year prison terms, while three others were sentenced to seven to ten years in prison for covering up the crime.
Turkey rejected the result, describing it as “scandalous.” And nearly two years ago, a court in Istanbul was trying 26 Saudi officials in absentia, on charges of premeditated murder or destruction of evidence.
