[SputnikNews] US President Donald Trump has slammed Turkey for keeping a US pastor in custody on charges of aiding a terrorist group behind the failed coup.
"A total disgrace that Turkey will not release a respected U.S. Pastor, Andrew Brunson, from prison," US president tweeted on Wednesday.
The US pastor has been held in a Turkish jail since October 2016 for allegedly threatening national security by having ties to the organizers of the July 2016 coup attempt to depose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
US media reported that Brunson and his wife ran a ministry in the Turkish coastal town of Izmir for nearly 20 years. |