Here in Western Pennsylvania, we know the meaning of service. We helped build this country, and we fought our country’s wars — all of them. We have a long, proud history of people stepping up to serve the common good in so many ways and forms.
Marc Fogel is one such public servant. A 62-year-old Oakmont native, for years he taught the children of American diplomats living abroad, teaching history to young people in Colombia, Venezuela, Oman, Malaysia and, for almost 10 years, Russia.
Through the pain of a severe back injury that he has lived with since he was in his 30s, Marc showed up to teach day after day. He showed remarkable perseverance that is now being pushed to its limits.
For close to three years, Marc has been detained in Russia for possessing a small amount of doctor-prescribed medical marijuana to treat his chronic back pain. He is serving a 14-year sentence in a Russian penal colony, many of which are known for their harsh conditions. While Marc cannot speak freely about his treatment in detention, those of us who can are extremely concerned for his well- being. Frankly, for someone with his medical conditions, 14 years in a Russian prison could be a death sentence.
Marc needs to come home. For his health, he should be released from detention in Russia on humanitarian grounds and allowed to return to Western Pennsylvania. In Congress, I’m working alongside our senators and our region’s House members to help bring Marc home.
Together, my House colleagues and I introduced the Marc Fogel Act to require increased transparency from the Department of State about its process for determining detainment status. Marc’s representatives in Congress are speaking in one voice: We hear him; we hear his family’s pain; and we are fighting hard to get him home.
Last July, I joined with other members of the Pennsylvania delegation on a resolution calling on Russia to recognize that Marc has spent more time in prison than he should. The resolution urges the country to acknowledge Marc’s human rights and worrisome medical condition, and to provide full consular access to him while he remains there.
For decades, Marc served others as a teacher around the world. Now, all of us have to stand up for him. Republican and Democrat: We are united with the message that an educator with a drive for service and chronic health issues should not be in a heavy-security Russian prison into his mid-seventies.
The only way we can keep Marc safe and make sure he gets the medical care he needs is to get him back onto American soil.
His nearly three-year absence has been devastating for his family. As his 63rd birthday approaches in July, and with 11 years left on his sentence, Marc’s 95-year-old mother, Malphine, wonders if she will ever see him again. We have to do all we can to keep Marc safe and to reunite this Western Pennsylvania family before it’s too late. It’s time to bring Marc Fogel home.
U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio is a Democrat representing Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District.