Istanbul (AFP)

The Istanbul public prosecutor's office on Monday indicted six new Saudis suspected of being involved in the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey in 2018, according to Turkish media.

The prosecution is calling for life imprisonment for two of the suspects charged and five years for the other four for their role in the assassination and dismemberment of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, media said.

The six Saudis, indicted a few days before the 2nd anniversary of the assassination, are not in Turkey and should be tried in absentia.

An Istanbul court on July 3 began trying in absentia 20 other Saudis, including two relatives of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, indicted by Turkish authorities for their alleged role in the murder.

Among these 20 defendants, two are identified by Turkish investigators as the sponsors: a former advisor to the Saudi crown prince, Saoud al-Qahtani, and a former intelligence number two, General Ahmed al-Assiri.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post collaborator and critic of the Saudi regime after being close to it, was assassinated and his body cut into pieces in October 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where he had gone to retrieve a document.

He was 59 years old at the time of his death.

His remains have never been found.

This murder plunged Saudi Arabia into one of its worst diplomatic crises and tarnished the image of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as "MBS", named by Turkish and American officials as the sponsor of the murder.

After having denied the assassination, then advanced several versions of the facts, Ryad affirmed that it had been committed by Saudi agents acting alone without having received orders from their superiors.

After an opaque trial in Saudi Arabia, five Saudis were sentenced to death in December and three others to prison terms for the assassination, out of a total of 11 people charged.

No charges were brought against Mr. Qahtani and Mr. Assiri was acquitted.

But a court in Riyadh annulled the death sentences handed down in early September in its final verdict and sentenced five defendants to 20 years in prison and three others to terms ranging from 7 to 10 years.

The verdict came after Jamal Khashoggi's sons announced in May that they would pardon his killers.

© 2020 AFP