Teacher Marc Fogel given State Department’s ‘wrongfully detained’ label

LAUREN TAYLOR: New federal filings show the State Department officially designated Marc Fogel, the Pennsylvania teacher held in Russia since 2021, as “wrongfully detained.”

It’s a very rare designation, which puts the full force of the U.S. government behind the cause of getting a prisoner home.

Russian authorities arrested Fogel in August 2021, after finding a small amount of medical marijuana on him. Fogel and his wife were on their way to Russia for their tenth year of teaching at a school in Moscow.

In 2022, Fogel received a sentence of 14 years of hard labor for drug possession charges.

Fogel’s mother, Malphine Fogel, sued the State Department in June, saying the agency had not given her any reason for why they had not applied the “wrongfully detained” label to Fogel.

In her complaint, Malphine Fogel pointed out that the facts of her son’s case were very similar to others declared wrongfully detained, including WNBA star Brittney Griner.

Fogel’s mother is now filing this week to dismiss her own lawsuit, citing the State Department applying the “wrongfully detained” designation. The filing reveals the family learned about the label in October.

The attorney representing Fogel’s mother told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “The designation is extremely important in terms of getting Marc home. It provides huge resources to the government to actually facilitate the release. In terms of getting a hostage home from a foreign country, this is absolutely necessary.”

Fogel has remained in Russia even after multiple deals securing the release of Americans held in Russia.

The U.S. got Brittney Griner home after 10 months in Russian detention in December 2022, in a deal swapping her for a convicted Russian arms trader.

And a prisoner swap in August led to 15 people held in Russia being freed, including US Marine veteran Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

Fogel’s family is asking the outgoing Biden administration and incoming Trump administration to work together to secure his release.

For Straight Arrow News, I’m Lauren Taylor.

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