Editorial: Finally. Marc Fogel is free

It took 1,278 days, but it finally happened.

Marc Fogel, 63, of Oakmont, was released Tuesday from the Russian penal colony where he had been imprisoned since August 2021. He was sentenced to 14 years for possession of 17 grams of medical marijuana legally dispensed in Pennsylvania.

It’s about damn time.

It is tempting to just look at the years. Three and a half years is a long time. It speaks to the scope of how long Fogel sat there, as holidays passed and birthdays ticked by. His boys grew older. His mother will turn 96 next month.

But focusing on the days is the way time moves in prison, so let’s do that.

For 1,278 days, Fogel waited for his country to rescue him. He spent his adult life educating kids, working as a history teacher. When he was arrested, he was teaching diplomats’ children at the Anglo-American School in Moscow.

When he was there for 188 days, basketball player Brittney Griner was arrested for the same offense. It was another 294 days until she was traded for international arms dealer Viktor Bout. Fogel still sat and waited.

Then 201 days later, the Marc Fogel Act was introduced. It was one of several bipartisan attempts by legislators to get the Biden administration or the U.S. State Department to make moves on Fogel’s behalf — or to explain to Congress why an American citizen was abandoned to Russia’s tender mercies with no more than humanitarian appeals for his release.

It was 331 days before Fogel spoke to a reporter in his first interview since his arrest. He spoke of the crippling pain of his knees, neck and back, where pins were surgically implanted in his spine. He’d been hospitalized repeatedly. He broke down in tears talking to his mother. He described making it through by visiting the small chapel on the grounds.

It was 51 days later that his mother Malphine met face to face with politicians at Donald Trump’s political rally in Butler. He promised to remember her son if he was elected.

“‘I won’t forget. Marc Fogel,’” she recounted, but she worried it wouldn’t matter. Trump was shot at the rally about 30 minutes later.

Nineteen days later, a historic prisoner exchange brought home Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, accused spy Paul Whelan and others. It left Fogel behind — and it left him in a dark place worse than prison.

“It’s like I’m in a bottomless pit and it keeps getting worse,” he said in a recorded call with family, speaking of his anger and frustration.

We don’t know how many days it was before Fogel was finally designated as wrongfully detained — the magic words that attract attention and prioritization for prisoners or hostages. We know that it was confirmed Dec. 26 — 147 days after he was left behind.

And 47 days later, Fogel boarded a plane.

The days are important because there are so many of them and they are so long — and for 1,277 of them, Fogel was scared, in pain and begging his government to bring him home.

“Please reunite me with my family. That’s one of the mantras that I repeat over and over and over, every day. At the church. In bed. Whenever I have time,” he said in a message to Joe Biden during his interview with TribLive in 2024.

Every day of his incarceration is a testament to the need for the legislation in his name. The Marc Fogel Act could hold the State Department accountable to Congress for its decisions regarding foreign-held prisoners. It could prioritize advocacy on the part of the detained and their families.

More than anything, it should make sure that no other American spends 1,278 days waiting to be rescued.