The US pastor Andrew Brunson is being moved from Kiriklar prison to house arrest in Turkey after a court ruling on Wednesday, a leader of the Turkish Protestant Church has confirmed direct to World Watch Monitor.
The same source confirmed that Brunson’s wife is on her way to the prison to meet her husband, and to ensure the prosecutor’s order to release him into house arrest is quickly delivered to the prison.
A photo of the Rev Andrew Brunson during his time in prison. PICTURE: World Witness.
Aykan Erdemir, a former member of Turkey’s parliament and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, confirmed that Brunson will remain in pre-trial detention until the next hearing, scheduled for 12th October.
Brunson, a Christian pastor from North Carolina who has lived in Turkey for 23 years, has been on trial for terrorism and spying charges – of having links with the Fethullah Gülen movement, which the Ankara government blames for the failed July, 2016, coup attempt, and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Turkish Hurriyet Daily News reported that “the Second High Penal Court in the western province of İzmir ruled on July 25 to move Brunson from prison to house arrest by imposing a judicial control decision”.
Hurriyet said the court had also banned the pastor from leaving Turkey.
The same penal court had rejected an appeal to release Brunson in its latest hearing last week, 18th July, and decided to continue listening to the testimonies of witnesses in the next hearing. Western observers in the court told World Watch Monitor there was not one piece of evidence so far produced to indicate the pastor is guilty of any crime, and that his trial is for political expediency. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wants Gülen to be extradited back to Turkey (the cleric is currently living in the US) to stand trial for the 2016 coup.
Brunson was detained nearly two years ago, in October, 2016, and faces up to 35 years in prison if found guilty. The pastor has completely denied all the charges, calling them “shameful and disgusting”.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Vice Chair Kristina Arriaga, who attended the hearing in Aliağa, near Izmir, welcomed his release from prison but said more needed to be done.
“This is welcome news,” she said. “It is good that Pastor Brunson will have some relief after being held in a Turkish prison for more than 600 days. But it is not enough. The Turkish government has deprived this innocent man of his due process rights and liberty for too long, and it must completely release him. If it fails to do so, the Trump Administration and the Congress should respond strongly and swiftly with targeted sanctions against the authorities responsible.”
According to Reuters, Brunson, the pastor of a small church in Izmir, told the court at last week’s hearing: “It is really hard to stay in jail and be separated from my wife and children.”
“There is no concrete evidence against me,” Reuters quoted Brunson as saying. “The disciples of Jesus suffered in His name, now it is my turn. I am an innocent man on all these charges. I reject them. I know why I am here. I am here to suffer in Jesus’s name.”
The court heard testimony from four witnesses: three for the prosecution, and one for the defence. For nearly two hours, former church members testified against Pastor Brunson, making vague, unsubstantiated accusations. When the judge asked Brunson to reply to the witnesses, he said: “My faith teaches me to forgive, so I forgive those who testified against me.”
Brunson’s lawyer’s request for his first choice defence witness was refused, since the witness himself was also implicated in the indictment, so another witness, less familiar with Brunson, had to appear instead.
Brunson’s supporters were disappointed at the outcome, having been encouraged by recent talks at the diplomatic level.
Reuters cited Philip Kosnett, the US charge d’affaires for Turkey, as saying he saw nothing to indicate Brunson had committed any crime.
