According to the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) website, Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu are no longer on the Global Magnitsky Act sanctions list.
The two Turkish officials were accused of human rights violations and sanctioned in August in response to the detention of American Pastor Andrew Brunson, who was released on October 12.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry has responded by removing sanctions from US Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and Attorney General of the United States Jeff Sessions, Turkey's Daily Sabah newspaper reported,
The sanctions on Kirstjen Nielsen and Jeff Sessions included a travel ban to the country and freezing of assets in Turkey.
Andrew Brunson was arrested in 2016 over his alleged ties to Gulen, and was accused of plotting the 2016 failed military coup in Turkey. The pastor was released from prison in July, only to be moved to house arrest. He received permission to walk free after a court in Izmir ruled he did not have to serve any more jail time.
