Brunson freed, permitted to leave country

Andrew Brunson, the American-born pastor who was charged with espionage against Turkey and held in custody for two years, has been released and is free to leave the country.

A Turkish court on Friday, 12 October, convicted the Evangelical Presbyterian pastor on terrorism and espionage charges related to the failed 2016 coup against Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The court sentenced Brunson to more than three years of prison time, but released him on account of Brunson’s time already served in detention and good behavior.

Various media services were reporting that Brunson already was on a plane bound for the United States. However, World Watch Monitor was with Brunson and his family and lawyers in Turkey at 8 p.m. local time, which is 6 p.m. GMT and 1 p.m. Eastern time in the US. He was expected to leave for the airport at about 9 p.m. local time/7 p.m. GMT/2 p.m. Eastern.

Facing up to 35 years in prison if convicted, Brunson flatly denied all charges. He had declared in court “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.”

After being held in a number of different detention facilities since his arrest in October 2016, Brunson, 50, was assigned to house arrest in July of this year.

Turkey’s major English-language news service, Hurriyet, reported that during Friday’s court hearing, important prosecution witnesses recanted some of their testimony against Brunson, weakening the government’s case against him. The hearing, held in a prison complex in Izmir, a coastal city, lasted nearly six hours. The court’s ruling at 4:28 p.m. ended Brunson’s ordeal.

The prosecution of Brunson was a sore spot between Ankara and Washington, triggering US sanctions and tariffs against Turkey and heated exchanges between Erdoğan and US President Donald Trump.

The president immediately celebrated Brunson’s release via Twitter:

The Washington Post reported 12 October that Brunson’s final hearing was held hours after the United States and Turkey had agreed to a deal that would ensure his release. Citing U.S. officials it did not identify, the Post said the deal was reached during the U.N. General Assembly in September. The Post reported that the U.S. offered to reduce sanctions if Turkey would reduce charges enough to permit the courts to release him with allowance for time already served. Inside the Turkish courtroom, the prosecutors who originally had demanded a 35-year sentence reduced their request to 10 years.

Prosecutors originally had swept up Brunson amid a widespread crackdown during the attempted 2016 coup. He was accused of conspiring with Kurdish separatists, whom the Turkish government considers to be terrorists, and with colluding with a Muslim cleric, living in Pennsylvania, whom the Erdogan has accused of orchestrating the attempted overthrow. Brunson, who has lived in Turkey for  led a small congregation since 1993, steadfastly denied any involvement and professed his love for the country.

Brunson had first been put behind bars, without formal charges, on 7 October, 2016. Scores of headlines had appeared in the Turkish media, calling him everything from a “terrorist” priest to a CIA spy, but the legal file against him was sealed, even against his Turkish lawyer.

Only when his indictment was finally released, six weeks before his trial, had Brunson learned he was being charged formally with terrorism and espionage, calling for combined prison terms of 35 years. The indictment leveled three charges:

• Engaging in missionary activities under the “cover” of humanitarian aid to Syrian asylum seekers arriving in Turkey. Missionary work is technically legal in Turkey, but often regarded as a threat to national unity.
• Relations and ministry with Kurds “known” to have high connections within the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Fethullah Gülen Terrorist Organisation (FETO)
• Activities aimed at destabilising Turkey, carried out in support of the criminal FETO network

The prosecution’s case, often provided by witnesses who were permitted to remain anonymous, presented a tangle of suspcions that baffled Brunson and his lawyers.

A large section of the indictment testimony quoted a secret witness who claimed that US citizens working as missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Turkey were colluding with the FETO movement and supporting the PKK by trying to win over Turkey’s ethnic Kurdish citizens to Mormon beliefs.

Brunson spend considerable time explainig to the court why he, an evangelical, would have no connection to the LDS church. Another anonymous witness testified that Brunson’s church — along with all American churches as well as the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency — were members of a secret organization, complete with a secret handshake, that controlled all church workers who live in other countries. While eyes rolled even in the Turkish media, they were taken with sober attention by the court.

Some witness testimonies in the indictment claimed that strong PKK sympathies were commonly expressed among the congregation in Brunson’s Izmir Resurrection Church. One anonymous source accused the church of displaying pro-PKK flags and slogans.

On 12 October, the Washington Post reported, some prosecution witnesses began to take back their original testimony. “One witness, Levent Kalkan, said that investigators misunderstood his original testimony that had implicated Brunson in harboring coup suspects in 2016,” the Post reported.

“The man that Kalkan has said witnessed the protection of the fugitives appeared in court Friday to say that he had seen no such thing.

“’ I never told Levent that,’ the witness, Yilmaz Demirjan, said,” according to the Post.

Andrew Brunson timeline

1993 – present	US Protestant pastor Andrew Brunson involved in legally recognised church-related Christian ministry in Turkey.
2016: 15 July	Deadly military coup attempt against Turkish government fails; Ankara blames network of US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen for coup, seeks Gulen’s extradition from US.
20 July	Turkish President declares state of emergency (still in force), suspending certain judicial practices; 110,000 public officials dismissed, 35,000 Gulen suspects under arrest, awaiting trial.
7 October	Brunson detained with wife Norine, in Alsancak police station, Izmir; told he would be deported within 15 days as “threat to national security”.
19 October	Norine Brunson released from police detention.
20 October	Andrew Brunson moved to Harmandali Detention Centre (outskirts of Izmir), placed in solitary confinement.
9 December	Summoned (with lawyer) to closed hearing at Izmir 2nd Criminal Court. Charges changed to “membership in an [unnamed] armed terrorist organisation”. Placed under formal arrest in overcrowded group cell at Aliaga Sakran Prison (45 miles from Izmir).
20 December	US Senator James Lankford meets Turkish Justice Ministry officials in Ankara, the capital.
29 December	Izmir court rejects lawyer’s appeal to release Brunson.
2017: 3 January	Unnamed senior Turkish official to Wall Street Journal says claim that Brunson’s arrest related to his religious affiliation is “ludicrous”.
15 February	78 US Congress members write to Turkish President Erdogan, urging him to release Brunson.
9 March	Turkish Prime Minister Yildirim tells USA Today it’s a “nonsensical” idea that Brunson held hostage until Turkish cleric Gulen’s extradition from US; says pastor’s case could be “accelerated”.
28 March	Brunson sends appeal letter to US President Trump.
30 March	US Secretary of State Tillerson meets Norine Brunson in Ankara.
15 May	American Center for Law & Justice files petition to UN Human Rights Council for Brunson’s release.
16 May	Trump asks Erdogan in person during Washington DC visit to release Brunson.
Late May-June	Flurry of Turkish media allegations against Brunson link him with Gulen movement, armed PKK separatists, CIA, “missionary” activities.
30 May	Erdogan promises “retaliation” vs. countries holding Gulen movement suspects.
7 July	Washington Post reports Turkey’s swap offer to exchange Brunson for release of millionaire Turkish-Iranian prisoner Reza Zarrab, facing trial in New York for evading US-led Iran sanctions.
17 July	Brunson moved to shared cell in Kiriklar Maximum Security Prison in Izmir’s Buca district.
24 July	New charges of “espionage & insurgency” against Brunson reported in Turkish press.
24 August	Izmir judge initiates video conference call with Brunson and his lawyer; pastor informed his official criminal charges are “spying and insurgency”.
25 August	New “state of emergency” Executive Order No. 694 authorises Erdogan to arrange to swap Turkish citizen prisoners for foreigners jailed in Turkey.
28 September	Erdogan publicly declares swap offer of Brunson for Gulen’s extradition.
5 October	Two representatives of US Commission for International Religious Freedom visit Brunson at Kiriklar Prison.
15 November	Brunson’s daughter Jacqueline addresses US Helsinki Commission hearing, Washington DC.
2018: 3 January	Brunson’s 50th birthday.
11 January	Erdogan vows no extraditions to US until Gulen returned from US to Turkey.
23 January	US delegation visiting Ankara raises Brunson’s “wrongful detention”.
9 March	Jacqueline Brunson addresses UN Human Rights Commission, Geneva.
13 March	Written indictment against Brunson leaked to Turkish press.
16 March	Indictment accepted by Izmir 2nd Criminal Court; first trial date set for 17 April.
26 March	Brunson’s North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis visits him at Kiriklar Prison.
17 April	First trial hearing: Brunson denies all charges, three prosecution witnesses testify; observed by US Ambassador for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback and Senator Thom Tillis.
7 May	Second trial hearing: includes 11 hours of testimony, one from a secret witness who, identity concealed, appeared on video in the court. USCIRF’s vice-Chair Sandra Jolley attends.
18 July	Court rules Andrew Brunson must remain in prison, dashing hopes of his imminent release.
25 July	Court orders Andrew Brunson to be moved from prison to house arrest.
14 August	Lawyer appeals arrest & travel ban to Izmir 2nd Court.
17 August	Izmir 3rd Court rejects lawyer’s appeal.
6 September	Head prosecutor removed from the case
12 October	Released from custody and allowed to leave country. Court convicts Brunson and sentences him to 3 years, 1 month and 15 days, but releases him because of good behavior and for time already served in detention.