Brittney Griner is home, but my brother is still in a maximum security penal colony in Russia
A Pennsylvanian is currently serving 14 years in a Russian penal colony for carrying roughly half an ounce of medical marijuana. The Biden administration must not forget him.
I was relieved to hear that basketball star Brittney Griner was returned to the United States in a prisoner exchange with Russia. But my brother, Marc Fogel, is still in a maximum security penal colony there, held under similar circumstances.
Marc is a resident of Oakmont, Pa., who has served as an international educator for 35 years. He was detained in August 2021 for carrying roughly half an ounce of medical marijuana, prescribed by a doctor for his chronic pain. Now he is serving 14 years in a Russian penal colony. The Biden administration must not forget him.
Our family has exhausted all legal options in Russia, so we are asking the Biden administration to use all possible means to bring Marc back to the United States. The events of the past few weeks have shown us that despite the exceptionally difficult relationship between Washington and Moscow, dialogue and negotiations are possible.
My brother has spent the last 35 years teaching International Baccalaureate courses in history to the children of U.S. consulate and embassy staff and American expats in Mexico, Malaysia, Colombia, Oman, Venezuela — and, most recently, Russia.
In August 2021, Marc and his wife, Jane, who is also a dedicated high school teacher, were returning to Moscow for what was to be their tenth and final year of teaching before retirement. Upon his return, Marc was arrested at the airport for carrying medical marijuana prescribed by his doctor in Pennsylvania. Marc suffers from debilitating back pain as a result of multiple spinal surgeries beginning in the early 1990s.
In the year and a half since Marc has been trapped in Russia, my family has received dozens of letters from his former students and colleagues. They described him as charismatic, caring, enthusiastic, energetic, and boisterous. Many spoke about how Marc went out of his way to make them feel included and engaged in the classroom. This outpouring of letters, phone calls, emails, and grassroots assistance told the story of a man dedicated not only to his craft, but also to the health and well-being of the young men and women he taught.
But none of these letters have brought him home.
When I think about my brother, I also see a man who can’t stand up straight because of back spasms, or I see his ashen face after waking up from yet another surgery. Few people outside his family saw this side of Marc, and even fewer still understood the effort he had to make to put a smile on his face every day. I shudder when I think about how he is faring.
For his crime, the Russian “justice” system sentenced my brother to 14 years in a maximum security penal colony. Marc Fogel is a 61-year-old with chronic health problems, who cannot survive this outrageous sentence.
Marc has been a passionate teacher for more than three decades. He is also a dedicated husband, father, son, brother, and friend who is missed every day.
To the Biden administration: Please bring Marc home so that my 93-year-old mother doesn’t have to spend another Christmas without her son, or my nephews another Christmas without their father. Marc should be at home with his wife, reading a book and sipping a cup of coffee in his retirement, not sitting in a Russian prison.
The last time I spoke to Marc he said, “Tell them teachers matter, too.”
Lisa Hyland is Marc Fogel’s sister. @freemarcfogel