President Donald Trump has signaled his support for imprisoned Pastor Andrew Brunson by berating Turkey for accusing him of being a spy.
In a tweet on Thursday, the U.S. president said Turkey is persecuting Brunson for no reason and expressed hope that he would be released soon.
"Pastor Andrew Brunson, a fine gentleman and Christian leader in the United States, is on trial and being persecuted in Turkey for no reason. 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!" the president said.
Trump's tweet came after Brunson underwent the first hearing in his trial over allegations that he supported the failed 2016 coup against the Turkish government.
Turkish prosecutors alleged that the pastor had conspired with Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen in organizing the July 2016 coup attempt. They also accused him of divulging state secrets and intelligence that could be used against Turkey in the event of war.
During the hearing on Monday, Brunson denied the accusations and insisted that he had not done anything illegal in Turkey.
"I don't accept any of the allegations or accusations. I did not engage in any illegal activity. I had no relations with anyone engaged in such activity. I am a Christian pastor. I did not join an Islamic movement. Their aims and mine are different," Brunson said, as reported by The Stream.
U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom Sam Brownback and Sen. Thom Tillis were present at the trial.
When Tillis visited Brunson in prison last March, he said that the pastor's health had deteriorated.
"He has lost 50 pounds and spends 24 hours a day in a cell with limited human contact...He fears the possibility that the American government accepts the indictment and forgets about him, which we will not allow to happen," the senator said at the time, according to Life Site News.
The second hearing for Brunson's trial is set to take place on May 7, 2018. The court reportedly sent the pastor back to an overcrowded prison as he awaits the next hearing.
Some have speculated that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is only using the pastor as a bargaining chip to extradite Gulen, who currently lies in Pennsylvania. Erdogan had previously suggested that Brunson could be freed in exchange for Gulen, but the U.S. has so far refused to extradite the cleric due to lack of evidence against him.
