The Paris-based media advocacy group said in a statement that it had filed the complaint in a federal court in Karlsruhe, Germany, on Monday and was asking prosecutors to open a formal investigation. The court confirmed to CNN Business that it had received the complaint.
According to Reporters Without Borders, the complaint accuses the Crown Prince and four other Saudi officials of having “organizational or executive responsibility” for Khashoggi’s death, as well as involvement in “developing a state policy to attack and silence journalists”.
Saudi officials did not immediately respond to CNN‘on request to comment on the Reporters Without Borders complaint.
Saudi Arabia rejected the accusations. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement after the report was published saying that the country “completely rejects the negative, false and unacceptable assessment of the report on Kingdom leadership and notes that the report contained inaccurate information and conclusions”.
The Crown Prince denied having ordered Khashoggi’s murder, but said he has responsibility.
“This was a heinous crime,” he said in an interview with CBS in 2019. “But I take full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia, especially since it was committed by individuals working for the Saudi government.”
The Khashoggi assassination and arrests “reveal a system that threatens the life and freedom of any journalist in Saudi Arabia – in particular those who speak out publicly against the Saudi government,” Reporters Without Borders said in a statement. Saudi Arabia is ranked 170th out of 180 countries on the group’s World Press Freedom Index.
“Those responsible for the persecution of journalists in Saudi Arabia, including the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, must be held responsible for their crimes,” Christophe Deloire, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders, said in the statement. “While these serious crimes against journalists remain unshakable, we ask the German prosecutor to take a stand and open an investigation into the crimes we have revealed.”
Reporters Without Borders said the German judiciary is the “most appropriate system” for receiving your complaint because its courts have the legitimacy to investigate some international crimes and “have already shown readiness and willingness to prosecute international criminals”.
In June 2019, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, concluded that it was “inconceivable” that the Saudi royal heir was unaware of the operation. In September 2020, a Saudi court sentenced eight suspects to prison, a sentence that Callamard called a “parody of justice”.
Last week, Callamard asked the United States to fully disclose his conclusions about Khashoggi’s “brutal extrajudicial execution” and said that since his remains have not yet been located, the international crime of enforced disappearance continues.
“Your loved ones remain subject to more suffering until Saudi Arabia discloses what has been done to your remains,” she said.
– Will Godley, Sarah El Sirgany and Nic Robertson contributed to the report.