February 2017 – Andrew Brunson, the American pastor and missionary previously detained in Turkey under threat of deportation, was charged with terrorism and sent to prison on December 9, 2016. The officiating judge said accusations against Brunson of having links to the July 15 failed military coup against the Turkish government came from a secret informant. The files on Brunson’s case were kept inaccessible to his lawyer. Brunson’s wife, Norine, who had also been detained for deportation with her husband, was released on October 19 and given an extended permit to remain in the country.
