Calling for the immediate release of Marc Fogel a United States citizen and teacher who was given an unjust and disproportionate criminal sentence by the Government of the Russian Federation in June 2022.

Calling for the immediate release of Marc Fogel, a United States citizen and teacher, who was given an unjust and disproportionate criminal sentence by the Government of the Russian Federation in June 2022. Whereas United States citizen Marc Fogel has lived a life of service, teaching history at international schools in Colombia, Malaysia, Oman, Venezuela, and Russia for 35 years; Whereas Marc Fogel taught at the Anglo-American School of Moscow from 2012 to 2021, honorably serving the children of United States diplomats and members of the Armed Forces; Whereas Marc Fogel is known to his family, friends, colleagues, and students as a kind, personable, upbeat, and giving man, a loving father, and a passionate and dedicated teacher; Whereas Marc Fogel has undergone three back surgeries, a spinal fusion, a hip replacement, and two knee surgeries to correct various injuries and health issues, which have left him with chronic back pain and a permanent limp; Whereas Marc Fogel did not wish to use opioids to manage his pain and was instead prescribed medical marijuana for pain management in a manner consistent with the State law of Pennsylvania; Whereas, on August 14, 2021, as he returned to Russia for one final year of teaching before his intended retirement, Marc Fogel was arrested in the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow for carrying about half an ounce of medical marijuana in his luggage; Whereas Marc Fogel has stated he intended that marijuana solely for personal consumption, and the Government of the Russian Federation has presented no evidence to the contrary; Whereas, on June 16, 2022, a Russian court convicted Marc Fogel of large-scale drugs smuggling Whereas Russian lawyers informed the family that the typical sentence for Marc Fogel’s offense is five years of probation, and in 2019, the same Russian court sentenced Alexander Grigoriev to eight years in prison for the possession of 1,500 grams of various narcotics; Whereas Marc Fogel’s sentence is vastly disproportionate to the severity of his nonviolent crime, wildly dissimilar to the typical punishments for comparable offenses in Russia, and clearly motivated by ongoing political tensions between Russia and the United States; Whereas, in August 2022, Russian courts denied Marc Fogel’s appeal of his sentence; Whereas the 2021 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Russia issued by the Department of State reported, Conditions in prisons and detention centers … were often harsh and life threatening. Overcrowding, abuse by guards and inmates, limited access to health care, food shortages, and inadequate sanitation were common Whereas Marc Fogel turns 62 years old in July 2023, and his 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; and Whereas the Department of State requested Marc Fogel be released from Russian custody on humanitarian grounds, but received no response to that request: Now, therefore, be it That Congress— (1) calls on the Government of the Russian Federation to immediately release Marc Fogel, who has already served more time in prison than his minor and nonviolent crimes can justify; (2) urges the Government of the Russian Federation to respect Marc Fogel’s human rights and to provide full, unfettered, and consistent consular access to Marc Fogel while he remains in detention, in accordance with its international obligations; (3) urges all United States executive branch officials, including President Joseph Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens, to raise the case of Marc Fogel and to press for his immediate release in all interactions with the Government of the Russian Federation; (4) urges the Government of the Russian Federation to desist from issuing outlandishly disproportionate criminal sentences to nonviolent United States citizens; (5) condemns the Government of the Russian Federation’s continued use of detentions and prosecutions of citizens and lawful permanent residents of the United States for political purposes; (6) calls for the immediate release of other citizens and lawful permanent residents of the United States who are wrongfully detained in Russia, such as Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, and Vladimir Kara-Murza; and (7) expresses sympathy for and solidarity with the families of all other citizens and lawful permanent residents of the United States wrongfully detained abroad for the personal hardship experienced as a result of the arbitrary and baseless detention of their loved ones.

Summary: This concurrent resolution calls on Russia to immediately release American citizen Marc Fogel and expresses that he has served more time in prison than his crimes can justify. It also urges Russia to respect Mr. Fogel's human rights and to provide full consular access to him while he remains in detention.