A Turkish court has refused to free a jailed US pastor to house arrest, in a case that has strained already troubled ties with Washington.
Pastor Andrew Brunson, who was imprisoned in Turkey shortly after the July 2016 coup attempt, appealed to the court to release him while his trial proceeds, saying he had suffered a breakdown and was taking psychiatric medication, the Hurriyet newspaper reported.
He faces a maximum of 35 years in prison, Anadolu news agency reported, and US officials, including US President Donald Trump and US Vice President Mike Pence, have demanded his release.
After the court ruled to continue the proceedings against him, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, a government agency, called for sanctions against Turkey.
“We are deeply disappointed,” commission Chairman Daniel Mark said in an e-mailed statement.
Brunson’s continued imprisonment is yet another reason “for Congress and the administration to consider stronger steps against Turkey, including the imposition of targeted sanctions against those involved in this miscarriage of justice,” Mark said.
Brunson is accused of aiding two of Ankara’s archenemies: US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the government accuses of masterminding the botched putsch, and the autonomy-seeking Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), branded a terrorist organization by the US, the EU and Turkey.
The pastor says he is innocent of any wrongdoing.
The opening day of his trial coincided with the sentencing hearing in the US of Turkish banker Mehmet Hakan Atilla, whose trial and conviction is among a series of disputes fraying ties between Washington and Ankara.
Atilla was convicted in January of helping Iran to evade US sanctions on billions of US dollars in oil revenue and the US Probation Office has recommended a 105-year prison sentence.
The US and Turkey have also faced off over Ankara’s demand to extradite Gulen from his home in Pennsylvania, where he has lived for two decades; US backing for separatist Syrian Kurds, whom the Turkish government considers an extension of the PKK; and Turkey’s arrest of US consular employees.
US Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Brunson’s home state, and Samuel Dale Brownback, US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom at the US Department of State, attended the opening hearing against Brunson in the Aegean port town of Aliaga to emphasize the US interest in the case.
Brownback urged the pastor’s quick release, according a transcript of his remarks.
The incarceration of an innocent man “is an impediment for our relationship moving forward,” Brownback said. “You’ll continue to see a very high-level US government interest in this until he is released.”
The pastor — who has lived in Turkey for more than two decades, according to the commission — was indicted last month on terrorism and espionage-related charges.
He was also accused of proselytizing in predominantly Muslim Turkey and acting like a member of a guerrilla group under the guise of an evangelical church pastor.
Brunson rejected the allegations during Monday’s hearing and burst into tears, Hurriyet reported.
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