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Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) warned against "exploiting" the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi for political purposes, as part of an apparently veiled attack on Turkey.
Turkey's relations with Saudi Arabia are tense since Khashoggi's brutal badbadination last october in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, which tarnished MBS 'reputation.
Turkish officials were the first to report the killing and continued to press Saudi Arabia for information on the location of its dismembered body, which has not yet been found.
"The death of Jamal Khashoggi is a very painful crime," MBS told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in an interview published on Sunday.
"The people accused of committing the crime are government officials" and the kingdom seeks "to obtain justice and responsibility from the ground up, without being distracted by the positions adopted by some for national considerations known to all. ".
"Any party operating the case politically should stop doing so and submit evidence to the [Saudi] court, which will contribute to obtaining justice, "he added, without directly naming Turkey.
Prince Mohammed, however, added that he wanted close relations with "all Islamic countries, including Turkey".
The CIA has concluded that the killing of Khashoggi was probably ordered by MBS, de facto leader and heir to the most powerful throne in the Arab world.
The Saudi authorities firmly deny the allegation.
Saudi prosecutors acquitted Prince Mohammed and reported that about 20 people involved in the murder were in detention and that the death penalty was being sought against five men.
US President Donald Trump and members of his administration refused to blame MBS and stressed the importance of US strategic relations with Saudi Arabia in the Middle East.
Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur charged with conducting an independent investigation into the killing, condemned in March what she described as lack of transparency in court proceedings and called for a public trial.
The kingdom "is seriously mistaken in believing that these procedures, in their present form, will satisfy the international community," she said.
His report is expected to be released Wednesday.
Khashoggi, an American resident, had written on the MBS critically and had been killed in what Riyadh described as a dishonest operation.
MBS said the kingdom was determined to "bring justice and accountability" in this case, as it faces international pressure to punish the culprits.
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
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