Sister: Marc Fogel designated ‘wrongfully detained’ by U.S. government
Marc Fogel has finally been designated as “wrongfully detained” by the United States government, according to his sister, Anne Fogel. And his family is not done fighting for his release.
Marc Fogel, who turned 63 this summer, is a schoolteacher from Butler who taught at the Anglo-American School of Moscow. In August 2021, he was arrested at Sheremetyevo Airport for carrying around a half-ounce of medical marijuana prescribed for chronic back pain. In June 2022, he was sentenced to 14 years in a penal colony.
Christmas Day was his 1,229th day imprisoned in Russia.
Previously, his mother, Malphine Fogel, filed a lawsuit against the United States Department of State over its failure to declare him as wrongfully detained. The state department had moved to dismiss the lawsuit in early October.
Marc Fogel had been left out of the group of Russian-held American citizens that returned Aug. 1 in the largest prisoner swap in post-Soviet Union history. At the time, he had told his sister Lisa Hyland, “I know I’ll be left behind again.”
The new information on his status comes right as the documentary “Did You Forget Mr. Fogel?” was released on YouTube on Christmas, months after the July 25 screening at Penn Theater. The 15-minute film, created by student filmmakers Max Karpman, Kaylee Smith, Seth Karall and Francesca Hill from Chapman University in California, showed the Fogel family’s 2023 Christmas in Fox Chapel, uncertain about Marc’s future.
Anne Fogel said one of her biggest takeaways from the documentary was how it clearly shows the need for the government to protect its citizens overseas, as well as the need to develop more protocol for helping families of citizens being detained overseas.
“For any Americans that work overseas, much like my brother has done for 36 years, he was essentially working for the United States without working for the U.S. exclusively,” she said. “The U.S. has overseas postings, needs overseas postings, and they need to take families with them, so they need education. And they need to be protected by the government.”
Anne Fogel told the Butler Eagle she is spending the holidays in Montana with her mother and sister-in-law, and that they are making the best of it. She said the family had been keeping quiet of the potential change in designation for a little while, but was given the go-ahead by the government to acknowledge it after it became official.
NPR reported in July there are 46 American citizens wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad across 16 different countries.
“For anyone going through this, which is a small number of the population, it’s a black hole,” she said. “And while I think there has been progress made with Americans held overseas, there needs to be more development on protocol on families so that we’re not confused and in the dark. We’re less confused than we were, but it’s such a crazy, difficult situation, and it takes such a toll on the family members involved. For my 95-year-old mother, it’s taking a toll on her.”
Anne Fogel said that President Joe Biden called her sister-in-law in October, while the whole family was able to speak with Richard Verma, a deputy secretary of state. President-elect Donald Trump has not reached out to the Fogel family recently, but previously promised he would work to free Marc from Russia.
The Fogels are grateful for the ways others have helped them, and remain committed to freeing Marc.
“We’re so grateful for the support we’ve gotten from Butler and Pittsburgh, and the media attention from the newspapers. We’re very grateful for everything everyone has done, and we’re still working,” Anne Fogel said. “The job’s not done.”
