A year after his death, a vigil in memory of Jamal Khashoggi will take place Wednesday, October 2 before the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. It was here that the journalist was killed and dismembered by a commando of agents who had come especially from Riyadh while he was going there for the purpose of marrying his fiancee.

But today, the blur remains on those responsible for this murder. The crown prince, Mohammed ben Salman, has been at the center of international attention since the death of Jamal Khashoggi, voice-critic of the management of the young "reformer" prince: he has always denied being the sponsor of this operation but has, he a few days ago, conceded "a responsibility". "It happened under my direction, I take full responsibility, because it happened under my direction," he said in a documentary on which the American channel PBS unveiled an excerpt on September 26.

For the UN special rapporteur on summary executions, Agnès Callamard, MBS's remarks are a way of "getting away" from the murder. "He assumes no personal responsibility for the crime, he creates a huge distance between himself and the crime himself, he creates layers and layers of actors in order to distance himself from the execution, his order and its organization, "she told AFP on September 30, not speaking on behalf of the UN.

"Credible evidence"

For the UN and the CIA, there seems to be little doubt for several months about the responsibility of Mohammed bin Salman in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

In December 2018, CIA Director Gina Haspel told senators at a closed-door meeting what his agency had in his possession about the journalist's murder. "If the crown prince faced a jury, he would be sentenced in thirty minutes," Bob Corker, Republican and head of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, said at the end of the meeting.

A UN investigation, released in mid-June, has put forward "credible evidence" linking the Saudi prince to murder. UN Special Rapporteur Agnès Callamard said at the time that she "determined that there is credible evidence, warranting further investigation into the individual responsibility of senior Saudi officials, including that of the Crown Prince". Riyadh rejected the accusations, describing the report as "baseless accusations".

An opaque trial

The various versions put forward by the Saudi power are also likely to reinforce the doubts about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Twenty-four hours after his death, the Saudi Consulate General in Istanbul explained that the editorialist critical of Saudi power had disappeared after leaving the Saudi consulate. Several explanations from Riyadh followed, including lies - in the light of what we know a year later - about the circumstances of the disappearance.

Riyad finally acknowledged on October 20, 2018 that the journalist had been murdered, saying: "We are determined to punish those who are responsible." The government also arrested 18 nationals suspected of involvement in the journalist's murder. Eleven of these suspects were promptly brought to justice, and their closed-door trial, which began last January, is still not over a year after Jamal Khashoggi's death.

For the moment, it is known that the prosecutor has requested five death sentences from these eleven suspects, and that diplomats from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - including one French - and from Turkey are authorized to attend as observers at the trial. What do they think of holding this opaque trial? There would be a "near complete lack of transparency around (of this one)," said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who spoke on September 29 in the Washington Post.

With AFP