[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 95 (Tuesday, June 4, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3961-S3962]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            CALLING FOR THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF MARC FOGEL

  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 380, S. 
Con. Res. 18.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the continuing 
resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A continuing resolution (S. Con. Res. 18) calling for the 
     immediate release of Marc Fogel, a United States citizen and 
     teacher, who was given an unjust and disproportionate 
     criminal sentence by the Government of the Russian Federation 
     in June 2022.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
continuing resolution, which had been reported from the Committee on 
Foreign Relations with an amendment to strike all after the enacting 
clause and insert in lieu thereof the following:

                            S. Con. Res. 18

       Whereas United States citizen Marc Fogel has lived a life 
     of service, teaching history at international schools in 
     Colombia, Malaysia, Oman, Venezuela, and Russia for 35 years;
       Whereas Marc Fogel taught at the Anglo-American School of 
     Moscow from 2012 to 2021, honorably serving the children of 
     United States diplomats and members of the Armed Forces;
       Whereas Marc Fogel is known to his family, friends, 
     colleagues, and students as a kind, personable, upbeat, and 
     giving man, a loving father, and a passionate and dedicated 
     teacher;
       Whereas Marc Fogel has undergone three back surgeries, a 
     spinal fusion, a hip replacement, and two knee surgeries to 
     correct various injuries and health issues, which have left 
     him with chronic back pain and a permanent limp;
       Whereas Marc Fogel did not wish to use opioids to manage 
     his pain and was instead prescribed medical marijuana for 
     pain management in a manner consistent with the State law of 
     Pennsylvania;
       Whereas, on August 14, 2021, as he returned to Russia for 
     one final year of teaching before his intended retirement, 
     Marc Fogel was arrested in the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow 
     for carrying about half an ounce of medical marijuana in his 
     luggage;
       Whereas Marc Fogel has stated he intended that marijuana 
     solely for personal consumption, and the Government of the 
     Russian Federation has presented no evidence to the contrary;
       Whereas, on June 16, 2022, a Russian court convicted Marc 
     Fogel of ``large-scale drugs smuggling'' in a politicized 
     show trial and sentenced him to 14 years in a maximum-
     security penal colony in Russia;
       Whereas Russian lawyers informed the family that the 
     typical sentence for Marc Fogel's offense is five years of 
     probation, and in 2019, the same Russian court sentenced 
     Alexander Grigoriev to eight years in prison for the 
     possession of 1,500 grams of various narcotics;
       Whereas Marc Fogel's sentence is vastly disproportionate to 
     the severity of his nonviolent crime, wildly dissimilar to 
     the typical punishments for comparable offenses in Russia, 
     and clearly motivated by ongoing political tensions between 
     Russia and the United States;
       Whereas, in August 2022, Russian courts denied Marc Fogel's 
     appeal of his sentence;
       Whereas the 2021 Country Report on Human Rights Practices 
     in Russia issued by the Department of State reported, 
     ``Conditions in prisons and detention centers . . . were 
     often harsh and life threatening. Overcrowding, abuse by 
     guards and inmates, limited access to health care, food 
     shortages, and inadequate sanitation were common'';
       Whereas Marc Fogel turns 62 years old in July 2023, and his 
     physical and mental health is rapidly declining due to the 
     stress and harsh conditions of his detention, such that his 
     family fears he will not survive his sentence; and
       Whereas the Department of State requested Marc Fogel be 
     released from Russian custody on humanitarian grounds, but 
     received no response to that request: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring),
       That Congress--
       (1) calls on the Government of the Russian Federation to 
     immediately release Marc Fogel, who has already served more 
     time in prison than his minor and nonviolent crimes can 
     justify;
       (2) urges the Government of the Russian Federation to 
     respect Marc Fogel's human rights and to provide full, 
     unfettered, and consistent consular access to Marc Fogel 
     while he remains in detention, in accordance with its 
     international obligations;
       (3) urges all United States executive branch officials, 
     including relevant officials at the Department of State and 
     the White House, to raise the case of Marc Fogel and to press 
     for his immediate release in all interactions with the 
     Government of the Russian Federation;

[[Page S3962]]

       (4) urges the Government of the Russian Federation to 
     desist from issuing outlandishly disproportionate criminal 
     sentences to nonviolent United States nationals;
       (5) condemns the Government of the Russian Federation's 
     continued use of detentions and prosecutions of citizens and 
     lawful permanent residents of the United States for political 
     purposes;
       (6) calls for the immediate release of other citizens and 
     lawful permanent residents of the United States who are 
     wrongfully and unlawfully detained in Russia, such as Paul 
     Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Ksenia Khavana, Alsu Kurmasheva, 
     and Vladimir Kara-Murza; and
       (7) expresses sympathy for and solidarity with the families 
     of all other citizens and lawful permanent residents of the 
     United States wrongfully detained abroad for the personal 
     hardship experienced as a result of the arbitrary and 
     baseless detention of their loved ones.

  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. I further ask that the committee-reported substitute 
amendment to the concurrent resolution be agreed to; the concurrent 
resolution, as amended, be agreed to; the preamble be agreed to; and 
the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table 
with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The committee-reported amendment in the nature of a substitute was 
agreed to.
  The concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 18), as amended, was agreed 
to.
  The preamble was agreed to.

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