U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said it was shameful that a Turkish court rejected an appeal to release an American evangelical pastor being tried for terrorism-related charges, imploring Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to intercede and secure Andrew Brunson's freedom, the Washington Examiner reports.
‘Disgrace’: Trump confronts Turkey’s Erdogan over jailed U.S. pastor
STEPANAKERT, JULY 20, ARTSAKHPRESS: "A total disgrace that Turkey will not release a respected U.S. Pastor, Andrew Brunson, from prison. He has been held hostage far too long," Trump wrote on Twitter. "[Erdogan] should do something to free this wonderful Christian husband & father. He has done nothing wrong, and his family needs him!"
Trump previously defended Brunson, a longtime Turkish resident, in a tweet in April, describing him as a "fine gentleman and Christian leader" who is "being persecuted in Turkey for no reason."
"They call him a Spy, but I am more a Spy than he is," he wrote. "Hopefully he will be allowed to come home to his beautiful family where he belongs!"
Brunson, a 50-year-old missionary from North Carolina, has denied espionage and collusion with terrorist organizations charges since being detained in 2016 following accusations he helped insurgents behind a coup in the country that year. He faces up to 35 years in prison.
Erdogan teased a prisoner swap in the fall of 2017, floating the possibility of trading Brunson for Fetullah Gulen, a Muslim critic living in Pennsylvania whom Erdogan blames for the failed uprising. Gulen also denies involvement.
