On Monday, May 7, after the second day in court, the judge ordered Andrew Brunson to remain behind bars and postponed the case until July 18.
“I’m helping refugees, they say I’m aiding the PKK. I’m setting up a church, they say I got support for the network of Mr. Gulen,” Andrew told the court in fluent Turkish.
Last month, a bipartisan group of 66 U.S. senators wrote an open letter to Turkey’s President Erdogan saying the indictment, “is an absurd collection of anonymous accusations, flights of fantasy and random character assassination.”
The case has drawn the attention of U.S. officials, specifically North Carolina’s Republican Senator, Thom Tillis, and New Hampshire Democrat Senator Jeanne Shaheen. Together they have proposed to block planned deliveries of F-35 combat aircraft to Turkey in an attempt to pressure Turkey.
During last Monday’s hearing, the prosecutors cited anonymous witnesses, one whom the judges called Serhat, described himself as a Christian. Serhat testified for almost two hours, often stating that he had no first-hand account of the events that he shared about Andrew. He told the court that he heard Andrew’s church was providing shelter to refugees associated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a banned group in Turkey. He also claimed Andrew was giving financial support to African students who attended one of Fethullah Gülen’s schools.
Gülen is the founder of the Gülen Movement, a group that promotes education, religious tolerance, and building social networks. Gülen was also accused of the failed coup in 2016, and President Erdogan has said he would release Andrew for the extradition of Gulen by the Trump administration.
“So Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.’” – Matthew 21:21-22
We continue to stand in faith and believe for Andrew’s full exoneration from these false & groundless charges. Join us as we pray for God to strengthen Andrew’s inner man & to fully renew his mind day by day to be able to continue facing the challenges coming against him. We are believing that through all of this Andrew will persevere and become, as James writes it, “perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:2-4
For more information about Andrew’s case, check out this article by Barbara Baker from World Watch Monitor.