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After initially denying the journalist's death, the Saudi authorities said that the suspects accused of the journalist's murder had committed a "premeditated" act.
The Monde.fr with AFP
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• Updated
Twenty days after the opening of a judicial inquiry into the death of Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed on October 2 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the Turkish prosecutor's office on Friday (October 26th) initiated extradition proceedings against eighteen Saudis suspected of 'involvement in the murder of the opponent, announced the Turkish Ministry of Justice. This request comes two days before the arrival in Turkey of the Saudi Attorney General.
Jamal Khashoggi, journalist and Saudi opponent exiled in the United States, who contributed to Washington Post, was killed on October 2 during a visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he had to obtain papers to marry his Turkish bride.
After initially denying the death of the journalist, the Saudi authorities, under international pressure, had advanced several versions, before declaring Thursday that, based on information provided by Turkey, the suspects accused of the murder of Khashoggi had committed an act "premeditated".
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Turkey "better able to deliver justice"
The Istanbul prosecutor's office handed over the names of the eighteen suspected suspects "Involvement in this premeditated murder" the Ministry of Justice, which in turn forwarded them to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the extradition request to be sent to Riyadh through official channels, the Ministry of Justice said in a statement.
On 20 October, the Saudi authorities announced that they had arrested 18 people – 15 members of a Saudi commando suspected of killing the journalist, as well as three employees of the consulate – and that they would be tried. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday called for the trial of these suspects in Istanbul and not in Saudi Arabia, even though the crime was committed by Saudis inside a Saudi consulate.
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"Turkey's Erdogan wants to exert, at the expense of Riyadh, a dominant influence in the Middle East"
"The request for extradition is motivated by the fact that Jamal Khashoggi was killed in Turkey by Saudi nationals who made the trip for this specific purpose"reported a senior Turkish official on condition of anonymity. "It is clear that the Turkish judiciary is better able to deliver justice in this case", he added, adding that a possible trial in Turkey would be opened "To international observers".
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The Turkish investigation highlights strong evidence that the murder of the journalist and dissident was planned days in advance. In a speech on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reported that three Saudi agents arrived in Turkey the day before the journalist's disappearance and went to a forest near Istanbul and to Yalova, a town on the outskirts of the Sea of Marmara, 90 km south of Istanbul. Two sites where the Turkish police, who still have not found the body of Khashoggi, conducted searches.
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Erdogan also confirmed that fifteen Saudis had arrived in Istanbul the same day as Mr. Khashoggi's disappearance and said that the eighteen arrests to which the Saudi authorities claim to have proceeded correspond to Turkish intelligence information. The Turkish president added that the video surveillance system installed inside the Saudi consulate had been "Disabled".
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