BERLIN

The recently concluded Saudi trial over the 2018 killing in Istanbul of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was not carried out transparently, Germany said Wednesday.

Speaking at a press conference, Maria Adebahr, Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said that the trial also still leaves questions that need to be answered about the killing of Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

Adebahr added that they are following Turkey’s handling of the case and hope that it will shed light on the murder.

Khashoggi, 59, a columnist for The Washington Post, was killed and dismembered by a group of Saudi operatives shortly after he entered the country's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on Oct. 2, 2018.

Riyadh offered conflicting narratives to explain his disappearance before acknowledging he was murdered in the diplomatic building in a "rogue operation."

On Monday, the Riyadh Criminal Court commuted death sentences handed down last year to the accused into prison terms of up to 20 years.

The Saudi trial process was widely criticized.

"The Saudi prosecutor performed one more act today in this parody of justice. But these verdicts carry no legal or moral legitimacy," tweeted Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions.

*Writing by Rabia Iclal Turan