Andrew Brunson, a Christian pastor from North Carolina who has worked in Turkey for more than 20 years, was detained in October 2016 and indicted on charges of helping the group which Ankara says was behind a failed military coup earlier that year.
Brunson’s lawyer İsmail Cem Halavurt confirmed Turkish media reports that the court had ruled for him to be moved to house arrest. He will have to wear an electronic ankle bracelet and is banned from leaving the country, Halavurt said.
A week ago the same court rejected a call by Brunson’s defence for his release. State-owned Anadolu news agency said the court decided, after re-evaluating the case, that he could leave prison on health grounds and because he would be under effective judicial control.
It said Brunson’s defence had been completed and evidence for the case was almost all collected.
Brunson’s detention deepened a rift between NATO allies Washington and Ankara – also at odds over the Syrian war and Turkey’s plan to buy missile defences from Russia – and financial markets took his transfer order as a positive sign.
The Turkish lira strengthened to 4.8325 against the dollar from 4.8599 before the report. Shares in Halkbank, whose former deputy general manager was convicted in January of evading US sanctions on Iran, jumped 12 percent.
Brunson was indicted on charges of helping supporters of Fethullah Gülen, the US-based cleric who Turkish authorities say masterminded the coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in which 250 people were killed. He was also charged with supporting outlawed PKK Kurdish militants.
The pastor, who denies the charges, faces up to 35 years in jail if found guilty.
Erdoğan has previously linked his fate to that of Gülen, whose extradition from the United States has been a long-held demand of Turkish authorities. Gülen denies any involvement in the coup.
President Donald Trump said in a tweet last week that Brunson was being held hostage and that Erdoğan should “do something to free this wonderful Christian husband & father”.
The US Senate passed a bill last month including a measure that prohibits Turkey from buying F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets because of Brunson’s imprisonment and Turkey’s purchase of Russia’s S-400 air defence system.