A/HRC/41/CRP.1 be conducted. Nevertheless, Turkey failed to investigate the residence as soon as it had deemed it connected to the killing and disappearance of Mr. Khashoggi. It sought to gain access through Saudi authorization, which was granted on 17 October and for a limited amount of time. Strikingly, the Saudi authorities prevented Turkish investigators from emptying a well on the residence premises where the body of Mr. Khashoggi could have been hidden.263 A strict reading of the VCCR would thus have allowed Turkey to conduct its crime scene investigation of the residence. 319. That it did not was partly a reflection of the oft-mentioned fear of avoiding escalation of the crisis, and partly a reflection of strong practices across States of not entering consulate residence without permission. Given the complexity of international relations and the political constraints it may be understandable that Turkey decided not to proceed. The same applies to the other two actions which the Turkish investigators could have taken, namely the interview of the Consul and the search of the Saudi Consul Fleet. Interviewing Saudi Persons of Interest 320. Turkish authorities also did not stop Saudi persons of Interest from leaving the Turkish authorities even though a number of them did so after the Turkish police had first concluded that a serious incident had occurred in the Consulate, and later that Mr. Khashoggi had been killed. These include the Saudi Consul, who left Turkey on October 16th. Consul Al-Otaibi was entitled to privileges and immunities, since he was the head of the consular post in Istanbul. But these immunities are not unqualified.264 Article 41(1) of the VCCR permits the arrest or detention of a consular officer for a ‘grave crime,’ while Article 44 allows the receiving state to compel a consular officer to give evidence on matters not connected with the exercise of their functions, as murder obviously is not.265 321. “There was, in short, nothing in consular law that would have prevented Turkey from arresting al-Otaibi or at least questioning him as a witness and prohibiting him from leaving the country, as any reasonable line of inquiry would have required for an investigation to be effective. He was simply not a diplomat, and the immunities he was entitled to were of a lesser and more qualified kind”266 Search of the Consular Vehicles 322. On 10 October, eight days after the killing, the Office of the Chief Prosecutor issued its first comprehensive search warrant for the 15 vehicles of the Consulate, for a three-day period. It appears though that the search warrant was not acted upon, probably because of the belief within the Investigator team, that consent from the Saudi Arabia authorities was required. Indeed, press reports at the time have suggested that Turkish authorities could not search the Consulate fleet because of consular immunity.267 Yet, unlike a diplomatic car, a consular vehicle enjoys no immunity or inviolability: Article 31(4) VCCR immunizes the means of transport of the consular post only from requisition for purposes of national defence or public utility, and does not protect them from search.268 Intelligence and Political Oversight and Realpolitik 323. In the Special Rapporteur’s opinion, three factors may have complicated the effectiveness of the Turkish investigation. They include the interest and involvement of the highest levels of the Turkish Government, in the investigation of the execution of Mr. 263 264 265 266 267 268 Interview, Istanbul, Chief prosecutor Lee and Quigley, at 435-436. ibid., at 487-488. Milanovic, 2019, 44. See, e.g., ‘Jamal Khashoggi: Saudi consulate car found abandoned in Istanbul, Turkish police say,’ The Independent, 22 October 2018, at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/jamalkhashoggi-dead-saudi-arabia-consulate-car-istanbul-turkey-latest-police-investigation-a8596086.html. Milanovic, 2019. He further suggests that this is a deliberate choice of the drafters of the VCCR; the original proposal of the ILC was to give consular vehicles the same inviolability as the consular premises, reproducing mutatis mutandis the text of Article 22 VCDR – see ILC Draft Articles on Consular Relations, with commentaries, at 109. 63