A/HRC/41/CRP.1 273. In the case of Mr. Khashoggi’s killing, the crime scenes include the Saudi Consulate, the Saudi General Consul’s residence, consular vehicles, the hotel rooms reserved for the members of the 15 persons team, as well as Mr. Khashoggi’s residence, the various locations visited by the Saudi team members until their departure, and their private jets used to come to and leave Turkey. 274. Access to several of these crime scenes raises legal challenges and conflicts of law because they may be protected by the VCCR. Turkey is under a positive obligation to undertake an effective and prompt investigation into the killing, but it is also under the obligation to respect the inviolability of the consulate and more generally to abide by its international obligations under the VCCR. 251 275. Article 31(1) of the VCCR establishes the inviolability of the Consular premises while under Article 31 (2), the authorities of the receiving State shall not enter that part of the consular premises which is used exclusively for the purpose of the work of the consular post except with the consent of the head of the consular post or of his designee or of the head of the diplomatic mission of the sending State, or in case of fire or other disaster requiring prompt protective action. 276. The VCCR provides for no privileges for the residence of a consular officer or the head of a consular post.252 277. As far as the inviolability of the agents of the receiving state, Article 41(1) VCCR provides that: “Consular officers shall not be liable to arrest or detention pending trial, except in the case of a grave crime and pursuant to a decision by the competent judicial authority.” Article 41(2) provides for the committal of a consular officer to imprisonment in cases of a grave crime. 278. Article 31(4) VCCR immunizes the means of transport of the consular post from requisition for purposes of national defence or public utility but it does not protect the consular car or vehicle from search. 279. Article 55(1) VCCR insists that “it is the duty of all persons enjoying such privileges and immunities to respect the laws and regulations of the receiving State.” This being stated, “any violation of this duty to respect domestic law does not remove the privilege and immunities of consular or diplomatic agents, except as otherwise provided for in the Conventions. Similarly, Article 55(2) VCCR … stipulates that consular and diplomatic premises shall not be used in any manner incompatible with the exercise of consular or diplomatic functions (which, obviously, do not include murder).”253 III. Saudi implementation of its duty to investigate 280. In an October 5th interview with Bloomberg journalists, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia “welcomed” search of the Saudi premises by the Turkish government. “The premises are sovereign territory, but we will allow them to enter and search and do whatever they want to do. If they ask for that, of course, we will allow them. We have nothing to hide.” That same day, the Turkish Chief Prosecutor was granted a search warrant. Despite the “welcome” from the Crown Prince, in practice the negotiations towards a joint investigation of the crime scenes were long and were hampered by lack of trust. Turkish officials suggested that on or around 11 October, they were invited in: “Saudis told us they would open the door to the consulate, show us around and even offer us coffee.” Turkish officials turned down this 251 252 253 The Inquiry sought to inquire as to whether Saudi Arabia had entered a specific contract to extend the inviolability of the Consulate to the residence. Turkish officials confirmed that there were no such agreements. Consequently, the VCCR is the main and only reference to assess Turkey and Saudi Arabia obligations. See Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR), at 360-361. M. Milanovic, ��The Murder of Jamal Khashoggi: Immunities, Inviolability and the Human Right to Life,” p.12, 2019 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3360647. 57