IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 60 
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. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 26, 2023 
Mr. DELUZIO (for himself, Mr. RESCHENTHALER, Mr. EVANS, Mr. BOYLE of 
Pennsylvania, Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania, Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania, 
Mr. FITZPATRICK, Ms. WILD, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. MEUSER, Mr. THOMP-
SON of Pennsylvania, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Ms. LEE of 
Pennsylvania, and Mr. ZINKE) submitted the following concurrent resolu-
tion; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
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 Govern-
ment 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 Co-
lombia, 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 chil-
dren of United States diplomats and members of the 
Armed Forces; 
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•HCON 60 IH 
Whereas Marc Fogel is known to his family, friends, col-
leagues, and students as a kind, personable, upbeat, and 
giving man, a loving father, and a passionate and dedi-
cated 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’’ in a politicized 
show trial and sentenced him to 14 years in a maximum- 
security penal colony in Russia; 
Whereas Russian lawyers informed the family that the typical 
sentence for Marc Fogel’s offense is five years of proba-
tion, and in 2019, the same Russian court sentenced 
Alexander Grigoriev to eight years in prison for the pos-
session of 1,500 grams of various narcotics; 
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•HCON 60 IH 
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 Rus-
sia, 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 Prac-
tices in Russia issued by the Department of State re-
ported, ‘‘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 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), 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; 
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•HCON 60 IH 
(2) urges the Government of the Russian Fed-
eration to respect Marc Fogel’s human rights and to 
provide full, unfettered, and consistent consular ac-
cess to Marc Fogel while he remains in detention, in 
accordance with its international obligations; 
(3) urges all United States executive branch of-
ficials, 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 imme-
diate release in all interactions with the Government 
of the Russian Federation; 
(4) urges the Government of the Russian Fed-
eration to desist from issuing outlandishly dispropor-
tionate criminal sentences to nonviolent United 
States citizens; 
(5) condemns the Government of the Russian 
Federation’s continued use of detentions and pros-
ecutions of citizens and lawful permanent residents 
of the United States for political purposes; 
(6) calls for the immediate release of other citi-
zens 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 
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•HCON 60 IH 
(7) expresses sympathy for and solidarity with 
the families of all other citizens and lawful perma-
nent residents of the United States wrongfully de-
tained abroad for the personal hardship experienced 
as a result of the arbitrary and baseless detention of 
their loved ones. 
Æ 
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