Who is Marc Fogel: What Did Marc Fogel Do?

US Marine Paul Whelan and his friend, a Pennsylvania-born American international baccalaureate history instructor named Marc Fogel, have been held as prisoners in Russia since October after being caught with medical marijuana in their luggage.

Those caught with any amount of narcotics, legal or otherwise, are subject to arrest and perhaps jail time under Russia’s harsh regulations. So, teacher Marc Fogel was caught with marijuana and given a fourteen-year term of hard labor in a Russian penal colony.

In light of the recent prisoner swap deal between Russia and the United States, in which WNBA star Brittney Griner was released from a Russian prison in exchange for one of the arms dealers currently serving time in a United States prison, many have demanded the release of another wrongfully imprisoned American, Marc Fogel.

During the heated discussions surrounding the prisoner swap, US Marine Paul Whelan was referred to by his former captor, Marc Fogel, as “wrongfully held” and in need of assistance in returning to the United States. Unfortunately, authorities did not even consider including Marc Fogel in this landmark prisoner swap plan.

 

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A post shared by Marc Fogel (@fogelmarc)

Kelly Leguineche, Marc Fogel’s niece, came up with the words, “wrongfully detained American citizen that is incarcerated in Russia,” during negotiations for Britteny Griner’s release because the various authorities did not even bother to address her uncle as such.

It’s terrible because this could have been our final chance to save his life, and we couldn’t muster the support we needed for it to make a difference to them,” she said. There isn’t a single person in the family or among the people we’ve spoken with who has any expertise on the penal colony who believes he will live through even a fraction of his sentence.

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According to available information, Marc Fogel and his wife Jane spent most of their lives in Russia, where he taught at a diplomatic school affiliated with the embassies of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. The Fogel family, who were enjoying their comfortable lifestyle, decided to spend another year in Russia. However, upon their arrival at a Russian airport, the situation quickly deteriorated.

Anne Fogel, his sister, also spoke out about the scandalous situation the Fogels found themselves in. Anne Fogel exclaimed in exasperation,

 

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They praised his enthusiasm for his native country of Russia. He has spent the better part of the last 36 years instructing the children of diplomats from all over the world. It seems that someone had been passing information. And the source had already informed airport security that he was expected to pass through.

A lawyer who represented Marc Fogel remarked, “We plunged into examining cases immediately. By looking into this, we discovered that other high-level drug trafficking group leaders received shorter terms than Marc. We discovered not just one but multiple instances in which a person was sentenced to ten years in prison for murder. Marc received a maximum sentence of fourteen years.

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These statements make it abundantly clear that Marc Fogel, an indisputable educator, is being held in Russia illegally because he had fewer than twenty grams of medical marijuana to treat the chronic pain from a back ailment.

What Did Marc Fogel Do?

When the Russian authorities apprehended Marc Fogel, he pleaded with them to let him go since he was innocent. Rather than a violent criminal or thug, Fogel was a soft-spoken history professor who had spent a lot of time in Russia.

Even though medical marijuana was prescribed for severe suffering, this does not absolve the offender from the consequences under Russian law. The simple reason is that Marc Fogel was arrested in Russia for possessing prescription drugs, which are banned there regardless of whether or not they are being used.

Saddeningly, on August 14, 2021, at Moscow Airport, sixty-year-old instructor Marc Fogel was apprehended by Russian police when they discovered he had about seventeen grams of cannabis. Marc Fogel and his wife were on their way to Moscow so that he could take a teaching job at a private school there.

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Innocent Marc Fogel explained to them that he had been prescribed the chemical by a doctor and could not resist taking it because of the excruciating pain he was experiencing in his spine. And yet, despite this evidence, he was locked up in a prison, and on June 16 of the next year (2022), he was given a lengthy fourteen-year term.

Even more so, in Russia, Marc Fogel was denied the most fundamental protections afforded to prisoners. Consular assistance for Marc Fogel has been nonexistent since November 2021, and he is not permitted to use any form of telephone communication with his family. What’s worse is that he was injected for his acute back pain without first being properly evaluated by a doctor.

Side symptoms such as chest pain, gastrointestinal pain, and vomiting are commonly associated with the medications he was injected with. Since he is innocent, the fact that he had to go through all this is rather shocking. The family and lawyers are doing everything they can to get Marc out of the Russian prison.

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