The decision was expected.

Turkish justice decided, Thursday, April 7, to return to Saudi Arabia the file of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist murdered in October 2018 in Istanbul, in the consulate of the kingdom.

"We have decided to transfer the case to Saudi Arabia," said the judge at the Istanbul court, where the trial in absentia of 26 Saudi defendants has been held since July 2020.

The suspense was very limited: the Turkish Minister of Justice, Bekir Bozdag, had given a positive opinion to the request of the prosecutor, who wished to "close and transfer the file" to Riyadh.

>> To read: "Khashoggi case: the international forfeiture of Mohammed bin Salman"

The murder of Jamal Khashoggi, killed and dismembered in the Saudi consulate, poisons relations between the two Sunni regional powers.

But Turkey, in the grip of an economic crisis, has been seeking a rapprochement with Saudi Arabia for several months.

For one of Khashoggi's fiancée's lawyers, Me Gokmen Baspinar, "this decision to transfer the file goes against the law" and "constitutes a violation of Turkish sovereignty".

Appeal of decision 

"There is no prosecution in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi authorities have already closed the trial and decided to acquit many suspects," he recalled, adding that he had filed an appeal before the Ankara Administrative Court against the decision of the ministry.

For another of the defenders, Me Ali Ceylan, this decision amounts to "throwing the lamb into the mouth of the wolf".

>> To (re) see: "For the fiancée of the murdered journalist Khashoggi, 'the Biden administration must sanction MBS'"

Hatice Cengiz, the fiancée of Jamal Khashoggi, murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, has announced that she is appealing the referral of the file to Saudi Arabia.

"We are not ruled here by a family, like in Saudi Arabia. We have a judicial system that responds to citizens' grievances: as such, we will appeal," she told reporters.

With AFP

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