[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 93 (Wednesday, June 6, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H4783]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     RELEASE PASTOR ANDREW BRUNSON

  (Mr. McHENRY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McHENRY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to draw attention to the 
ongoing plight of Pastor Andrew Brunson, a Christian missionary from my 
district in western North Carolina who has been held as a prisoner of 
the Turkish Government for the last 20 months.
  Prior to being arrested by the Turkish Government in October of 2016, 
Pastor Brunson had lived peacefully in Turkey for decades. He had 
opened a church, raised his family, and made a life in the country.
  That all changed in 2016, when the Turkish Government arrested Pastor 
Brunson on a series of bogus charges. He has been detained ever since.
  Last month, I sent a letter to the Turkish President, signed by a 
bipartisan group of 154 lawmakers, calling on their government to 
release Pastor Brunson. It is a long time in coming, but I hope and I 
pray that Pastor Brunson will be released so that he can be reunited 
with his family here in the United States.

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