Turkish Presidency: The Saudi judiciary exonerated those who ordered the killing of Khashoggi

The head of the communication department of the Turkish presidency, Fakhruddin Alton, said that the Saudi court acquitted the people who ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at his country's consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018.

In a blog, Alton stressed that, through a formal trial, those who ordered the crime were acquitted, they sent the execution team to Istanbul, they hid the victim's body, and ignored freedom of the press and expression.

The head of the Communications Department expressed his refusal to try to cover up the execution through a formal trial, while all the evidence related to the crime is clear, as he put it.

"We are witnessing the acquittal of the perpetrators of the murder of the journalist by cutting his body in front of the entire world," Alton said.

On December 23, a Saudi court acquitted three prominent officials of the Khashoggi murder, at a time when preliminary death sentences of five and three were imprisoned in the case, and their names were not revealed.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry commented at the time, saying that the rulings issued by the Saudi judiciary are far from fulfilling the aspirations of Ankara and the international community to shed light on all aspects of the murder of the journalist.

In this context, Agnies Calamar, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, said that the recent rulings of the Saudi authorities in the Khashoggi murder case are far from justice.

In a statement, Kalamar expressed her shock that the masterminds of the murder of the journalist were not only free, "but were hardly touched by the investigation or the trial."

For its part, the European Union called for ensuring that all officials and those involved in the assassination of Khashoggi were tried, and noted that the death and prison sentences that had been issued were subject to appeal.