Video PlayerClose

PARIS, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Foreign Affairs Minister Jean Yves Le Drian said on Wednesday that France will not rule out any sanctions against Saudi Arabia if investigation into the killing of journalist Jamal Khshoggi showed it was involved in the murder.

Speaking to RTL radio in an interview, Minister Le Drian stressed "It is important that this crime be punished, that the perpetrators be identified, that the truth be established."

"And today, even though the Saudi authorities have admitted that there was a murder, the account is not here ...So long as those who are responsible and the circumstances around the killing are not made public, released and evaluated, we will go on demanding the truth," he said.

Jamal Khashoggi, a harsh critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, disappeared during a visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on Oct. 2.

After two weeks of denial, Riyadh admitted that the 60-year-old political dissent, also a Washington Post columnist, was killed during a physical fight with the people he met in the Saudi consulate, but did not give any explanation on the cause of his death.

Kahshoggi's body has not been found yet.

"It's in terms of the identification of the culprits, of the transparency that will be made that we will take the necessary sanctions, and we do not prohibit anything on these sanctions," the French top diplomat said.

"First, we'll impose sanctions against the guilty parties. Then we'll decide sanctions against a state (Saudi Arabia)," he added without elaborating.

Asked if Paris would heed Berlin's call to suspend weapons sales until the truth about the journalist's murder is established, the French minister said Germany had taken initiative too early.

"I think we must wait for the investigation to find the culprits," he stressed.