U.S. senators request State Department declare Oakmont man jailed in Russia 'wrongfully detained'

A bipartisan group of 10 U.S. senators, including both of Pennsylvania’s, signed on to a letter Tuesday requesting Secretary of State Antony Blinken designate Oakmont native Marc Fogel as being “wrongfully detained” under federal law.

The Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act is named in honor of former FBI agent Robert Levinson, whose detention by the Iranian regime is recognized as the longest-held hostage in American history.

It’s designed to provide assistance to U.S. citizens and nationals taken hostage or unlawfully or wrongfully detained abroad.

Fogel, a teacher at the Anglo American School in Moscow, was recently sentenced to 14 years in a maximum-security penal colony by the Russian government for possession of less than an ounce of medical marijuana.

Fogel, 61, has a severe medical condition that’s given him chronic pain for decades. He has undergone three back surgeries, a spinal fusion, a hip replacement and two knee surgeries, the letter said.

“We’re getting attention from the group of people that we need, and it’s been long in coming,” Fogel’s sister, Anne, told the Tribune-Review in a phone call from Tuesday evening from Ovando, Mont. “I feel like we’re picking up some steam, and I hope Secretary Blinken hears. Marc does not belong (in a maximum-security prison). He’s not a criminal. He’s a school teacher. He’s an incredible history teacher.”

More on Marc Fogel's case:

• Pa. congressional members lobby Secretary of State to help Oakmont teacher in Russian prison
• Family seeks release of Oakmont teacher being held in Russian prison
• Editorial: U.S. should work to bring Oakmont's Fogel home from Russia, too
• Kamakshi Balasubramanian: Oakmont resident caught in Russia's penal system

Fogel was about to begin his 10^th and final year of teaching in Moscow when he was arrested at Sheremetyevo International Airport last summer for possession of about 17 grams of medical marijuana prescribed for chronic pain. Fogel was placed in pre-trial detention and has already been detained for a year.

“I’ve been working with the Fogel family for months in an attempt to bring Marc Fogel, a beloved teacher with severe medical conditions, home safely to his family,” Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton said in an email comment to the Tribune-Review. “It’s clear that Vladimir Putin is using Mr. Fogel as a political pawn.”

The letter said: “The United States cannot stand by as Mr. Fogel wastes away in a Russian hard labor camp. The State Department is currently attempting to negotiate the release of (Brittney) Griner, who was recently sentenced to nine-and-a-half years in prison for carrying vape cartridges and less than a gram of cannabis into Russia.

”Marc Fogel’s case warrants the same degree of political attention and diplomatic intervention.”

Calls for comment placed to the U.S. State Department and the White House were not immediately returned.

For its part, the State Department has previously requested Fogel’s release on humanitarian grounds due to his medical condition.

The letter from the senators states that designating Fogel as “wrongfully detained will provide the warranted level of support to Marc Fogel’s family after a year of communication with Mr. Fogel only via mail and, most importantly, will require the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs to secure Mr. Fogel’s freedom.”

The letter also states that according to Fogel’s family, “He will not survive this sentence.”

In addition to Casey, the letter was signed by Pennsylvania’s other senator, Pat Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley and seven other U.S. senators, including Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia), Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana), Sen. Steve Daines (R-Montana), Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado), and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia). Sen. Jean Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) said she plans to sign the letter as well.