YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Germany has issued entry bans for 18 Saudi citizens suspected of involvement in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Riyadh’s Istanbul consulate, effectively banning them from entering the European Union’s passport-free Schengen zone, Reuters reported.

A spokesman for Germany’s foreign ministry said the members of the 15-strong squad accused of carrying out the killing and a further three who are suspected of organizing it had been given entry bans. He declined to name the individuals.

“In recent days, we have coordinated closely with our French and British friends and decided, as Germany, to put an entry ban beside their names in the Schengen system database,” the spokesman told a regular news conference.

Asked if Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, accused by United States intelligence of having ordered the killing, was among their number, the spokesman declined to comment.

Earlier last week prosecutors in Saudi Arabia have said that they would seek the death penalty for five people allegedly involved in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, CNN reported.

A total of 11 people were charged, the Saudi Public Prosecutor's office said, adding that the five people facing capital punishment were directly involved in "ordering and executing the crime."

It also shared details of the journalist's murder, saying Khashoggi was killed following "a fight and a quarrel" at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. He was tied up and injected with an overdose of a sedative that killed him, then his body was dismembered and given to a local collaborator, the prosecutor said, according to CNN. 

Saudi authorities added that former Saudi deputy intelligence chief, Ahmed al-Assiri, ordered a mission to force Khashoggi to go back to Saudi Arabia and formed a team of 15 people.

They were divided into three groups, the prosecutor said: a negotiation team, an intelligence team and a logistical team.

It was the head of the negotiating team who ordered the killing of Khashoggi, the prosecutor said.

The prosecutor also revealed that the Royal Court advisor, Saud Qahtani, is banned from traveling pending the investigation into the murder.

Qahtani led the communications team of Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman and was removed from his role last month following Khashoggi's death.

These details come after The New York Times reported that people familiar with the audio recording say it contains an instruction to "tell your boss." American intelligence officials believe is a reference to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the audio recording was a "true disaster" that "shocked" the Saudi intelligence officer who heard it.

Saudi Arabia claims that neither the Crown Prince nor his father, King Salman, knew of the operation.

Turkey has claimed for weeks to have audio evidence that exposes how the Saudi journalist was killed on October 2 while visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain papers for his upcoming marriage.

The Turkish chief prosecutor has previously said that Khashoggi was strangled as soon as he entered the consulate as part of a premeditated plan, and his body dismembered.

The Saudis have presented shifting stories about the journalist's death, initially denying any knowledge before arguing that a group of rogue operators were responsible for his death.

American officials have argued that such a mission -- including the 15 men sent from Riyadh -- could not have been carried out without the authorization of bin Salman, heir apparent to the Saudi throne.

After Saudi Arabia admitted that Khashoggi was killed in its Istanbul consulate, five high-ranking officials were dismissed, including bin Salman's media chief and the deputy head of the Saudi intelligence service

Earlier in November, the sons of the murdered journalist appealed for the return of their father’s body.

US President Donald Trump said November 18 he doesn't want to listen to an audio recording that purportedly depicts the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi because it's "a suffering tape."

"We have the tape. I don’t want to hear the tape. No reason for me to hear the tape," Trump said in an interview with "Fox News Sunday."

Asked why, Trump said "because it’s a suffering tape."

"It’s a terrible tape," he added. "I’ve been fully briefed on it. There’s no reason for me to hear it."

Trump said he knows everything about the tape because of briefings, and described it as "very violent, very vicious and terrible."