Pastor Brunson: his daughter calls the UN for release

Pastor Brunson's daughter intervention at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, 9 March 2018 during the General debate on Item 3. Video and text of the intervention below.

Thank you Mr. President. I am here today on behalf of the ECLJ, who is representing my father, Pastor Andrew Brunson, the innocent United States citizen who has been wrongfully imprisoned in Turkey now for almost a year and a half and yet, he has still not been formally charged with any crime. Having grown up in Turkey, it has been hard for me to understand the situation. My family loves and respects the Turkish people, and my father has been dedicated to serving them for over 2 decades.

I know the allegations against my father are absurd. He is not an armed terrorist trying to overthrow any government, my father is a peaceful pastor. My family has suffered greatly during the past year and a half, which has been filled with tears, and countless unanswered questions. 

I visited my father last August, we sobbed the entire visit. It was hard to see him so broken, so thin, so desperate. He wrote a note last week which said, “Let it be clear, I am in prison not for anything I have done wrong, but because of who I am - a Christian pastor. I desperately miss my wife and children. Yet, I believe this to be true, it is an honor to suffer for Jesus Christ, as many have before me. My deepest thanks to all those around the world who are standing with and praying for me.”

Turkey should not get away with holding my father one more day. Please, make any and all efforts to secure my father’s release and safe return to the United States. He’s been falsely imprisoned for far too long.  Thank you.