U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to continue working toward the release of Pastor Andrew Brunson, who has been incarcerated in a Turkish prison since October 2016.
Brunson is currently awaiting trial for charges of espionage and aiding Kurdish groups and supporters of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is being blamed for a failed coup against the Turkish government in July 2016.
During a meeting at the Oval Office on Saturday, Trump insisted that the allegations made by the Turkish government against Brunson are false.
"We have Pastor [Andrew] Brunson, a wonderful Christian pastor, and he's right now in Turkey. He's been there a long time. And they say he's a spy, but he's not a spy," the President told reporters, according to The Daily Caller.
The meeting at the White House on Saturday was held to welcome Joshua Holt, an American who was recently released by the Venezuelan government after spending nearly two years in prison.
Holt, who hails from Utah, had traveled to Venezuela to marry a woman he met online, but he was jailed after he was accused of being a CIA spy. Following his incarceration, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch had reportedly pushed for Holt's release.
Trump said that his administration is working to secure the release of Brunson, who had been living in Turkey for 23 years prior to his arrest.
"Pastor Brunson — I hope you can hear us — we'll be helping you at some point. We've been working on it for a while. He's been there a long time, and he's a totally innocent man," he said, as reported by The Daily Caller.
"We're going to all work, and we've been working for his release. He's having a hard time. There's a trial going on, but the trial is not so much of a trial. And we're talking to the folks in Turkey about doing something about it," he added.
Last week, lawyers supporting Brunson asked the U.N. to intervene in Brunson's case to ensure that he is set free "without injury or delay."
Representatives from the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) told the U.N. Human Rights Council that there is "no evidence" to support the allegations that Brunson was a member of Gulen's organization.
The ECLJ said that the 62-page indictment against Brunson did not provide evidence of a crime committed by the pastor and based the charges against him on "hearsay from secret witnesses."
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously suggested that Brunson could be released in exchange for the extradition of Gulen, who is currently living in exile in the U.S.
