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Khashoggi's fiancée Hatice Cengiz
Photo: TIZIANA FABI / AFP
The fiancée of the murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi has sued the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for damages in the USA.
Hatice Cengiz suffered personal damage and financial loss from the murder of her fiancé, the lawsuit published on Tuesday said.
Khashoggi was murdered in 2018 in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul by a command sent from Saudi Arabia.
Together with Cengiz, the human rights organization Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn), founded by Khashoggi, is suing the Crown Prince and 28 other suspects.
The aim of the murder was to bring the democratic reforms sought by Khashoggi to a standstill in the Arab world, the complaint said.
Cengiz and Dawn are therefore aiming for a trial in Washington, since no justice can be expected from the Saudi Arabian judiciary.
Overall, however, the lawsuit is likely to have a symbolic character and has no prospect of success in terms of convicting the Saudi Arabian crown prince.
The Saudi Arabian embassy in the USA has not yet taken a position on the lawsuit.
Crown Prince bin Salman denies having commissioned the murder of Khashoggi.
After the murder of the 59-year-old Saudi Arabian journalist in October 2018, Riyadh only admitted involvement under international pressure and after weeks of denials.
The government critic was killed "in an unsuccessful operation to arrest him," it said.
During his visit to the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Khashoggi wanted to pick up the papers he needed to marry his Turkish fiancée.
Saudi Arabia sentenced 13 defendants to prison terms in connection with the murder.
Five of the accused had previously been sentenced to death.
These sentences were commuted to 20-year prison sentences after Khashoggi's sons publicly pardoned the convict.
The court, on the other hand, exonerated Saudi Arabia's deputy chief Ahmed al-Assiri and the former advisor to the Crown Prince, Saud al-Kahtani.
Turkish investigators, however, assume that the two men had ordered the murder of the government critic in the Istanbul consulate.
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