Posted on 07/26/2018 9:25:11 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
ISTANBUL — North Carolina pastor Andrew Brunson was released from prison in Turkey Wednesday after being incarcerated for nearly two years there on terrorism charges.
Brunson is now under house arrest while the charges remain the same. He faces up to 35 years in prison, his lawyer told NBC News.
Brunson, 50, is an evangelical pastor from Black Mountain, North Carolina, who has spent the last 23 years living in Turkey, where he and his wife raised their daughter and two sons. He was running the Resurrection Church in the western city of Izmir when he was detained in October 2016 over accusations he helped individuals the Turkish government says were behind a failed coup.
“I talked to his family and they were very happy,” the pastor’s lawyer Ismail Cem Halavurt said, but added they felt “betrayed” after the court failed to release him earlier. “He will not be able to leave the house except if he has an interview or hearing in the court. He will be free at home but he can’t do anything else.”
Halavurt also said Brunson was in good physical condition, despite the Turkish state news agency reporting that he was released on health grounds.
Brunson's daughter Jacqueline Furnari told NBC News in April that he had started to gain back some of the 50 pounds he lost while in detention. "I'm not sure exactly why my dad was chosen," she said at the time. "He's a pawn in a political game between Turkey and the U.S."
Local television aired footage of what it said was Brunson being put into a white car and leaving prison Wednesday, surrounded by several other vehicles, led by a police car and motorbikes. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted afterwards that the U.S. welcomed the news.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
President Trump and the administration are working the back channels and turning the screws on Erdogan.
E-Dog wants something from the USA for this prison release.
The question is what? We’ll find out soon.
It’s a start!
Hope he is released soon. He has wasted 23 yrs of his life pretending “to make a difference”....doesnt work that way.
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