We learned in the Thursday, Aug. 8, edition of the Butler Eagle about a visit between U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick and the mother of a Butler native being held in a Russian prison.

McCormick met with Malphine Fogel, whose son, Marc Fogel, has been held in Russia since August 2021, when authorities found less than half an ounce of medical marijuana he’d been legally dispensed in his bag.

Marc Fogel was charged with “large scale drugs smuggling” and eventually sentenced to 14 years in prison. He is serving his sentence in a penal colony outside Moscow.

He was not one of the 16 people released from Russian prisons earlier this month as part of a multicountry prisoner swap. After McCormick visited Malphine Fogel, he posted about it on X, formerly Twitter.

“Malphine’s son, Marc Fogel, has been wrongfully detained in a Russian prison for three years and sadly wasn’t included in the recent prisoner swap,” he wrote. “We need to make it a top priority to get Marc home.”

McCormick’s opponent in the Senate race, Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, has also strongly advocated for Marc Fogel’s release and was reportedly angry when Marc Fogel wasn’t included in the prisoner swap.

Both are right to be upset and to demand the U.S. do more to secure his release.

The one small sliver of hope after Marc Fogel was left out was acknowledgment the U.S. State Department is working for his release.

“The Russians just weren't willing to throw him into the mix,” Admiral John Kirby, White House National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, told new outlets after the deal. “And we tried many different times. I mean, from a very, very early stage here when we knew we had to work on a new deal, we included Mr. Fogel. Regrettably, they just, they just weren't biting at it.”

The question remains, however: If the government is pushing for Marc Fogel’s release, why hasn’t it designated him as wrongfully detained?

All 16 of the prisoners Russia released in the swap were given that designation. As was WNBA player Brittney Griner, who was exchanged in December 2022 for imprisoned arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Griner was arrested in February 2022 and designated as wrongfully detained in May of that year.

We continue to hope Marc Fogel will be released soon, and that our government is working to secure that release. But it’s long past time to designate him as wrongfully detained.

— JK