A COMPLAINT by two rights groups accusing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of involvement in the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi will be investigated, France’s national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said on Saturday.

The prosecutor’s office, known as the PNAT, said the case will now be handled by an investigating judge from the crimes against humanity unit after a May 11 ruling by the Paris Court of Appeal.

The complaint was filed by Trial International and Reporters Without Borders. 

The groups accuse the Saudi crown prince of complicity in torture and enforced disappearance of Mr Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist who was brutally killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.

Mr Khashoggi’s body has never been found.

The PNAT said the Paris Court of Appeal found the complaints admissible because the possibility that the case could be classified as a crime against humanity could not be ruled out at this stage.

The prosecutor’s office said it took note of the court’s decision, while adding that the ruling did not invalidate its own interpretation of the French criminal procedure rules governing whether the groups were entitled to file the complaint as civil parties.

The French complaint was initially filed in 2022, during a visit to France by Prince Mohammed.

The crown prince initially faced international isolation after Mr Khashoggi’s killing but has since been received again by Western leaders and dignitaries.

The opening of a French judicial inquiry does not mean Prince Mohammed has been charged or that French judges have found him responsible. It means an investigating judge will examine whether the complaint can lead to further proceedings.

Prince Mohammed has denied ordering Mr Khashoggi’s killing.

Saudi Arabia held a closed-door trial over the killing and said it punished those responsible, but rights groups have slammed the proceedings as opaque and insufficient.