On Aug. 14, 2021, Marc Fogel, a Butler native, Allegheny County resident and Indiana University of Pennsylvania graduate, was arrested as he arrived at a Moscow airport to begin what was supposed to be his final year as a teacher at the Anglo-American School there. “The U.
S. State Department told his family to remain silent,” according to the freemarcfogel.net website.
“They did.” As the third anniversary of that arrest has come and gone, there are those who think the State Department listened too much to its own advice — while the family and supporters of Marc Fogel stopped being silent. “We’ve never heard directly from them at any time,” Malphine Fogel, Marc’s 95-year-old mother, told The Indiana Gazette on Wednesday.
“I think they’re thinking about Marc a little bit more. I think his name is out there more and they’re aware of him, and that’s a good thing.” Malphine Fogel, of Butler, met with former President Donald Trump prior to the attempt on Trump’s life July 13 at the Butler Farm Show grounds.
Mrs. Fogel and others said she elicited a promise from Trump to bring home her son, Marc, who has been held in a Russian prison for three years of what could be a 14-year sentence. After Trump reiterated in an X conversation with Elon Musk that he would return to Butler in October, Mrs.
Fogel is non-committal on going to Trump’s promised return in October to campaign in Butler. “I think it is a little bit of a worry,” Mrs. Fogel, 95, said.
“I think it will be a stress on the authorities here. I’m not sure I’d go unless I, again, could talk to him. I’d go if I thought I could have a conversation about my son.
I’m not sure I would go for a political rally.” Meanwhile, having not heard from her son in a week, Mrs. Fogel is concerned.
“He normally calls every seven to 10 days,” Malphine Fogel said. “I think he is absolutely deflated. I think it was a blow to him.
I think he is kind of losing faith. I think his health is deteriorating.” Members of Congress marked the third anniversary of Marc Fogel’s arrest with a renewed call to the State Department to designate him as “wrongfully detained” “Designating Marc as “wrongfully detained” will underscore the political nature of his continued detention by the Russian government and the failure of humanitarian and other efforts thus far to bring about Marc’s release,” lawmakers wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“It will also demonstrate that the U.S. government considers his case to be of equal importance to similar cases.
” Signers of that letter include U.S. Sens.
Bob Casey Jr., D-Scranton; John Fetterman, D-Braddock; Jon Tester, D-Mont.; Chris Coons, D-Del.
; and Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; as well as U.S.
Reps. Madeleine Dean, D-Montgomery County; Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Delaware County; Chrissy Houlahan, D-Chester County; Susan Wild, D-Lehigh County; Summer Lee, D-Swissvale; Guy Reschenthaler, R-Peters Township; Glenn Thompson, R-Howard; Mike Kelly, R-Butler; and Chris Deluzio, D-Aspinwall. “While three years have passed since Marc’s arrest, almost two years have passed since we first wrote to you asking that you designate Marc as “wrongfully detained” under the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act,” the lawmakers wrote.
“We appreciate the State Department’s recent decision to focus more on Marc’s case publicly. However, the department has not provided Marc with the ‘wrongfully detained’ designation, even after National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan clarified that the category of ‘those who are held hostage or wrongfully detained around the world..
. includes Marc Fogel.’” Late Wednesday afternoon, the State Department issued this response — including the tag that “we do not comment on Congressional correspondence.
” As for the rest of the statement, attributable to an unidentified spokesperson: “We have repeatedly called for Marc Fogel’s humanitarian release, and we will continue to advocate for his release. “We have called on the Russian government to release Marc Fogel on humanitarian grounds. “We take seriously our commitment to U.
S. citizens abroad. “We urge the Russian government to ensure fair treatment and appropriate medical care for all U.
S. citizens detained in Russia. “Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment at this time.
” Malphine Fogel hasn’t lacked for contacts, talking recently with Republican senatorial candidate Dave McCormick and being interviewed by the Reuters news service. On July 13, Mrs. Fogel was at the Trump rally along with Kelly; Sean Parnell, an author and retired Army Ranger who had a short-lived bid for U.
S. Senate in 2022; U.S.
Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Luzerne County; and a spokeswoman for the freemarcfogel.net website.
“Sean Parnell took total control of the situation,” the spokeswoman recalled. “Congressman Kelly literally would have taken a bullet for the three of us, and Congressman Meuser and Dave McCormick chose to place a 95-year-old woman’s safety before theirs.” Since July 13, Kelly has been named to head a bipartisan task force investigating the assassination attempt, out of which Trump’s ear was nicked.
Former Buffalo Township fire chief Corey D. Comperatore, 50, of Sarver, was killed shielding members of his family, and two other men were wounded, James Copenhaver, 74, of Moon Township, and David Dutch, 57, of New Kensington, both of whom have since been discharged from a Pittsburgh hospital. Mrs.
Fogel sued the State Department and Blinken in the United States District Court for Western Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh to compel authorities to declare her son “wrongfully detained.” “I haven’t heard anything,” she said about the lawsuit, but expressed confidence that “if something happens I will hear from” attorney Sasha Phillips, who filed the lawsuit on Mrs. Fogel’s behalf.
“It would be nice if we would hear directly from the government what is going on,” Mrs. Fogel said. “They could certainly tell us privately if anything is going on with the case.
” Also since July 13, Brittney Griner won Olympic gold in Paris as a member of the U.S. women’s basketball team.
Griner was imprisoned in Russia on the same charge as Marc Fogel, before the same judge, but was brought home in an earlier prisoner exchange. Griner told Reuters that “this gold medal is going to hold a special place amongst the other two I was fortunate to win (in Rio and Tokyo Olympic games).” Michelle Burford Griner has written a book, “Coming Home,” which was published in May and comes along with an audio version where, Griner said, “I’m able to use my voice to shed light on other detainees that are still abroad right now.
” There is no public record of Griner saying anything specifically about the Fogel case. She could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon..
