Reschenthaler, McCaul, GOP Colleagues Demand Information on Marc Fogel

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Chief Deputy Whip Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX), and their House Republican colleagues sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressing serious concern that the Department has not been able to provide information on why Pennsylvania resident Marc Fogel, who has been detained in Russia for a year and a half, has not been classified as “wrongfully detained.”

 

In the letter, the lawmakers wrote:

 

“Although Brittney Griner’s case is nearly identical in certain respects, there is an apparent disparity of treatment between Ms. Griner and Mr. Fogel by the Biden Administration, especially when it comes with the apparent urgency with which the Department briefs the Hill and reaches key decisions internally. The State Department has had ample opportunity to consider the designation of Mr. Fogel and communicate with Congress in a classified setting. And yet, virtually nothing of substance has been shared, and Mr. Fogel still languishes in prison.”

 

Fogel meets at least six of the 11 established Levison criteria to be classified as “wrongfully detained,” including:

 

(2) the individual is being detained solely or substantially because he or she is a United States national;

(3) the individual is being detained solely or substantially to influence United States Government policy or to secure economic or political concessions from the United States Government;

(8) the individual is detained in a country where the Department of State has determined in its annual human rights reports that the judicial system is not independent or impartial, is susceptible to corruption, or is incapable of rendering just verdicts;

(9) the individual is being detained in inhumane conditions;

(10) due process of law has been sufficiently impaired so as to render the detention arbitrary;

(11) United States diplomatic engagement is likely necessary to secure the release of the detained individual.

 

Fogel’s family resides in southwestern Pennsylvania. Reschenthaler has been one of the leading voices advocating for Fogel’s release from Russia.

 

Read the full letter here.