Ankara (AsiaNews) – The French priest who was knifed yesterday evening in Samsun had already suffered threats, insults and vandalism. He was due to return to France within a few weeks as he was about to complete his service. Fr Pierre Brunissen, 76 years, was injured yesterday in the street at 6.30pm by a man who appears to be mentally unbalanced, and who was already known to the police for other acts of violence. The priest is still in hospital but he will be released shortly: although he lost a lot of blood, he is now out of danger.

Fr Pierre has spent 15 years as a Fidei Donum priest in Turkey. People from Samsun told AsiaNews: "It is not the first time Fr Pierre was attacked, insulted by false accusations, and his church targeted by vandals."
Before the murder of Fr Andrea Santoro – the Italian priest killed on 5 February in Trabzon – he was threatened several times. After the Roman priest's death, he was targeted by intimidation and vandalism, but the priest insisted on staying put in the city of Samsun on the Black Sea, because he was the only priest for the small local community.

The Christian community of Samsun is microscopic and composed mostly of foreigners in the city for work, people from former Soviet republics and a few Japanese.

Soon after the death of Fr Andrea, Fr Pierre sought to keep the church of Trabzon open too, covering the distance of hundreds of kilometres between the two cities to assure that at least Sunday Mass was held. He did this until Easter Sunday, when a new parish priest – a Polish priest – officially took over the parish of Trabzon.

In mid-September, Fr Pierre was meant to return to France as he had completed his service. His bishop had already recalled him to the diocese before, but the decision to return was postponed to mid-September, as he had expressed the desire to celebrate the feast of the parish – dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows – once more. The feast falls on 15 September.

Although the attacker is already in prison, this assault worries Christians who see it as a part of an escalation of violence and threats against church figures.