A Turkish court on Wednesday ordered that an American pastor held for almost two years on terror charges must remain in prison, defying growing pressure from the US authorities for his release.
The judge said the next hearing in the case of Andrew Brunson, who ran a protestant church in the Aegean city of Izmir and was first detained in October 2016, would be on October 12, an AFP correspondent reported.
The 50-year-old evangelical pastor from North Carolina was arrested in the aftermath of a 2016 coup attempt for alleged links to outlawed Kurdish rebels, as well as a network led by US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey blames for the unrest.
Brunson, who faces up to 35 years in prison, denies the charges.
US President Donald Trump tweeted in Brunson’s defense earlier in the year, saying: “They call him a Spy, but I am more a Spy than he is.”
— Agencies
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