A secret witness testifying anonymously against American Pastor Andrew Brunson in Turkey has claimed that he helped outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants and aimed to create a Christian Kurdish state, according to a report by the Associated Press (AP) on Monday.
The trial of Brunson, who faces up to 35 years in jail on terror and spy charges, resumed in Turkey’s İmzir province on Monday. Brunson rejected the claims in the second session of his trial on Monday, insisting that he “never permitted politics in church.”
The leader of a small Protestant Christian church in the western city of İzmir named “Yeniden Diriliş” (Resurrection), Brunson was detained in October and was recently described by US President Donald Trump as a “fine gentleman.”
Prosecutors accuse Brunson of activities on behalf of the PKK as well as the Gülen movement. Brunson, who has lived and worked in Turkey for over two decades, is also accused of espionage for political or military purposes. He rejected all the accusations directed against him during the first hearing last month in the town of Aliağa, north of İzmir, and from time to time broke down in tears.
“I haven’t done anything against Turkey. On the contrary I love Turkey. I have been praying for Turkey for 25 years,” he told the judge.
US embassy charge d’affaires Philip Kosnett as well as Sandra Jolley, vice chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, were present at the Monday hearing.
The case has further inflamed tensions between Turkey and the United States. Trump said the pastor was on trial and being prosecuted for “no reason,” in a strong tweet after the Turkish court ruled to keep him in jail.
“They call him a Spy, but I am more a Spy than he is. Hopefully he will be allowed to come home to his beautiful family where he belongs!” Trump said.
The State Department then said it had seen “no credible evidence” that Brunson was guilty of a crime.
Top US officials have raised the pastor’s case in meetings with Turkish authorities and have called for Brunson’s release.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who will soon meet with US counterpart Mike Pompeo in Washington, claimed that Brunson’s case was a legal one. “They say ’the government should release him.’ Is it up to me? This is a decision the judiciary will make,” Çavuşoğlu told broadcaster CNN Türk in an interview on Sunday.
from Stockholm Center for Freedom https://stockholmcf.org/a-secret-witness-testifies-against-us-pastor-brunson-in-turkey/
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