Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – The Turkish Ministry of Justice has responded to the request made by the Turkish Public Prosecutor to transfer the case of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed in his country’s consulate in Istanbul in 2018, to Saudi Arabia.
And the official Turkish Anatolia news agency reported that “the Turkish Ministry of Justice expressed its non-objection,” and the “Directorate of Foreign Relations and the European Union of the Turkish Ministry of Justice informed the Public Prosecution in Istanbul of its opinion regarding the transfer of the case to the Saudi authorities, at the request of the 11th Criminal Court in Istanbul responsible for examining in the Khashoggi murder case.
The agency added, “The opinion book I sent to the Public Prosecution Office in Istanbul indicated that there is no bilateral agreement to which both countries are a party with regard to the transfer of criminal cases… Article 23 entitled ‘Transfer of investigation or prosecution’ of Law No. 6706, states that ‘ In the absence of an international agreement, investigations or prosecutions may be transferred.”
He continued: “Article 24 of the said law provides for the possibility of transferring investigations and prosecutions for crimes that carry a maximum penalty of imprisonment for a year or more in the event that the accused cannot be present in Turkey because he is a citizen of a foreign country or his defense cannot be obtained through legal aid.” .
The directorate said, according to Anatolia: “The conditions stipulated in Article 24 of Law No. 6706 have been met, and in this regard, the Ministry considers the transfer of the case to the Saudi judicial authorities appropriate.”
