MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs reiterates its call on Saudi authorities to provide exhaustive answers to all questions related to the investigation into the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the ministry's spokesperson said on Monday.

"France's position is constant. We expect the Saudi authorities to provide a transparent, comprehensive and credible response to the questions relating to the investigation into the murder of Jamal Khashoggi," the spokesperson said at a daily briefing.

The spokesperson stressed that France was "closely" following the investigation.

"We are calling for the facts to be clearly established in this extremely serious case and for the perpetrators to be tried and punished," the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson emphasized that France was strongly opposed to the death penalty "everywhere and under all circumstances", commenting on Saudi prosecutors' plans to seek the death penalty for five out of 11 people suspected in the murder.

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Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, was killed in the Saudi consulate in the Turkish capital of Istanbul on October 2, 2018. After two weeks of denials and following pressure from Western allies to provide an explanation on the journalist’s whereabouts, the Saudi authorities admitted that Khashoggi had been killed and dismembered inside the consulate.

READ MORE: Turkey Plans to Raise Issue of Khashoggi Killing at UN — Foreign Minister

Riyadh keeps claiming that the killing had nothing to do with the Saudi royal family, describing it as a rogue operation.

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