The U.S. Senate on June 4 passed a bipartisan resolution offered by U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) that seeks the immediate release of Marc Fogel, a United States citizen and teacher who lawmakers say is being wrongfully detained in Russia.
“I’m glad to see my resolution calling on the Biden administration to do everything it can to bring Marc home pass the U.S. Senate,” said Sen. Daines, the lead original cosponsor of the approved Senate Concurrent Resolution 18, which is sponsored by U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA).
Fogel, 62, who has been in jail since Aug. 14, 2021, was arrested when he returned to Russia for one final year of teaching before his intended retirement after 35 years of teaching history at international schools around the world. He was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport for carrying about half an ounce of medical marijuana in his luggage.
A Russian court on June 16, 2022, convicted Fogel of ‘‘large-scale drugs smuggling’’ in a politicized show trial and sentenced him to 14 years in a maximum-security penal colony in Russia, according to Sen. Daines’ resolution.
“Every important milestone in Marc Fogel’s life since August of 2021 has been spent away from his friends and family in a Russian prison,” Sen. Daines said. “We will keep fighting until he is reunited with his loved ones.”
Since his incarceration, Fogel’s physical and mental health “is rapidly declining due to the stress and harsh conditions of his detention, such that his family fears he will not survive his sentence,” according to the text of the resolution, which calls on the government of the Russian Federation to immediately release Fogel.
The resolution also urges Russia to respect Fogel’s human rights and to provide “full, unfettered, and consistent consular access” to him while he remains in detention, among other provisions.
The resolution now heads to the U.S. House of Representatives, which will reconcile its own version of the resolution with the Senate-approved item.