Aug 2, 2024 By Mike Jones 2 min read

A bipartisan group of Congressional leaders from the region said they had hoped the international prisoner swap announced Thursday would include Oakmont native Marc Fogel, who has been detained in a Russian prison for three years.

But as the names of the people who were being released from custody in Russia were made public, it became clear that Fogel would not be coming home with them.

President Biden announced that Americans Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, along with Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, were among those being released following a multi-nation prisoner swap.

U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman, along with U.S. Reps. Guy Reschenthaler, Chris Deluizo and Mike Kelly, released a joint statement before the names of prisoners were known asking that Fogel would be included in the group.

“Marc is a Pennsylvania teacher with severe health issues who has been unjustly imprisoned in a Russian prison for three years, and as the congressional members who represent Marc and his family, we have been pushing to bring Marc home as quickly as possible,” the Congressional leaders said in Thursday morning’s joint statement. “As negotiations are ongoing with the Russian Federation, we respectfully request that any potential prisoner swap include Marc Fogel.”

The local Congressional delegation sent a letter to the Biden Administration in December asking that Fogel be included in any future prisoner swaps.

Fogel, 63, has been held in Russia since Aug. 14, 2021, when he was arrested at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow carrying about 17 grams of marijuana for medicinal purposes to treat a spinal condition. He was convicted in June 2022 and sentenced to serve 14 years in a Russian penal colony.

Fogel had been teaching children internationally for more than 30 years, and for the past decade he taught history, economics and business at the Anglo-American School in Moscow.

Attempts to reach Fogel’s family Thursday afternoon were unsuccessful.