The trial of twenty Saudi suspects accused of murdering Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi started on Friday in the Turkish city of Istanbul.
Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul in 2018. The trial is by default because the suspects are not present.
The main suspects are the former head of the Saudi intelligence agency Ahmed al-Asiri and the former advisor to the royal house of Saud al-Qahtani.
They are charged with committing first-degree murder “with monstrous intentions.” Prosecutors say Al-Asiri and Al-Qahtani led the operation.
Khashoggi was killed when he came to the consulate to arrange something for his upcoming marriage to Turkish Hatice Cengiz.
The journalist regularly wrote critical columns about Saudi Arabia for The Washington Post. He was met, killed and cut to pieces. His body was never found.