Posted on 08/24/2022 8:02:04 AM PDT by lightman
Pennsylvania senators Bob Casey and Pat Toomey, along with seven other senators, are urging the U.S. State Department to designate a Pennsylvania teacher sentenced to 14 years in a Russian prison as “wrongfully detained,” according to the Philadelphia Inquirer and KDKA.
The classification would reportedly allow the government to undertake active diplomatic efforts to secure the man’s release.
Mark Hilliard Fogel, 61, of Oakmont, has been detained in Russia for about a year now, after being arrested at the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow in August for possession of about 20 grams of medical marijuana. He was sentenced in June to 14 years in a high security penal colony.
“Mr. Fogel’s recent 14-year sentence to a maximum-security penal colony for possession of less than an ounce of medical marijuana can only be understood as a political ploy by Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian regime,” a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. “The United States cannot stand by as Mr. Fogel wastes away in a Russian hard labor camp.”
Other lawmakers who signed the letter include Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; Jon Tester, D-Mont.; Steve Daines, R-Mont.; John Hickenlooper, D-Colo.; Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.; and Tim Kaine, D-Va.
“Mr. Fogel’s medical conditions will very likely worsen in such circumstances,” the lawmakers wrote, highlighting Fogel’s chronic pain and limp from several surgeries, arguing that his sentence is “grossly disproportionate” to similar cases.
Fogel was heading back to the Anglo-American School in Moscow, where he had taught high school history for almost a decade when he was arrested.
A State Department spokesperson told the Philadelphia Inquirer on Tuesday that in general officials “do not comment on Congressional correspondence.”
“We take seriously our commitment to assist U.S. citizens abroad and are monitoring the situation,” the spokesperson said. “We continue to urge the Russian government to allow consistent, timely consular access to all U.S. citizen detainees in Russia, in line with its legal obligations and allow us to provide consular services for U.S. citizens detained in Russia.”
The letter to the State Department comes just over two weeks after members of Pennsylvania’s U.S. House delegation and Toomey co-signed a letter to Blinken regarding Fogel’s case.
This guy needs to follow the laws of Russia.
Leave him!
No, it isn’t.
The pertinent question is, can he play basketball?.................
The pertinent question is, can he/did he repay his student loan?
What was he thinking?
It’s none of the feds business.
CRT? Lock him up.
This is when Putin should make a deal
Criminally Charge and Prosecute Clinton, Obama, Comey, Clapper, Brennan and every other person involved in the Seditious Conspiracy to overthrow the United States President. When they are Convicted and on DEATH ROW, I will release both of these druggies.
Why?
Mark Hilliard Fogel, 61, of Oakmont, has been detained in Russia for about a year now, after being arrested at the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow in August for possession of about 20 grams of medical marijuana.
There is no such thing as medical marijuana in Russia. Marijuana possession is still a federal crime in the United States. Claims that some states have decriminalized it within their state makes no difference. It remains federally classified as a Class I controlled substance, the highest possible classification, with no known medical use.
SCOTUS, Gonzales v. Raich, 545 U.S. 1 (2005)
Held: Congress’ Commerce Clause authority includes the power to prohibit the local cultivation and use of marijuana in compliance with California law. Pp. 6–31.[...}
Marijuana is classified as a Schedule I substance, §812(c), based on its high potential for abuse, no accepted medical use, and no accepted safety for use in medically supervised treatment, §812(b)(1). This classification renders the manufacture, distribution, or possession of marijuana a criminal offense. §§841(a)(1), 844(a). Pp. 6–11.
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