New effort begins in hopes of freeing Oakmont man detained in Russia

PITTSBURGH — There is now a new effort to free a local teacher detained in Russia.

Marc Fogel, an Oakmont resident, was arrested 11 months ago at a Russian airport for having less than an ounce of medical marijuana.

Now a group of senators, including Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, are calling to reclassify Fogel’s case as ‘wrongfully detained.’

In a statement, Casey said, “I’ve been working with the Fogel family for months in an attempt to bring Marc Fogel, a beloved teacher with severe medical conditions, home safely to his family. It’s clear Vladimir Putin is using Mr. Fogel as a political pawn and that’s why I’m pushing the State Department to reclassify his case as ‘wrongfully detained’ in the hopes of securing Marc Fogel’s freedom.”

Fogel’s niece, Ellen Keelan, told Channel 11 that she and her family have been urging the public to send letters to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“The push is still going, we still need all the help we can get,” said Keelan. “I’ve had hundreds of people send letters which hopefully helped push on the administration.”

Keelan says the attention from the nine bipartisan senators has given her family hope.

“The recent push from the senators is very encouraging,” said Keelan. “We just hope our president agrees and gives him the classification of wrongfully detained, it will get the wheels moving, because he needs to come home.”

There is a change.org petition that Fogel’s family hopes will catch the president’s attention with enough signatures.

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