Editorial: If Marc Fogel is not wrongfully detained, why was Griner designated so for same crime?

Brittney Griner was harassed in an airport Saturday.

The Phoenix Mercury player was in Dallas and heading to Indianapolis when she and her WNBA teammates were targeted by people filming them and shouting what one player called “wild remarks,” including that Griner hates America.

For the team and the WNBA, it brings back the issue of player safety and travel. Should they confine transportation to chartered flights? Is that the best way to limit these types of interactions?

For Griner, it is probably triggering. It no doubt brings up a much worse airport incident — the one where she was arrested in Moscow for possession of a medically prescribed cannabis oil.

Griner spent almost 10 months in Russian custody, where she was found guilty of drug charges and sentenced to nine years in prison. She was the focus of public attention and calls for her release. In December, she was brought home via a prisoner swap for Viktor Bout, an arms dealer known as “the Merchant of Death.”

For others, however, news about Griner is a reminder of another man accused of the same crime — one whose name has never prompted the same attention.

Marc Fogel.

The U.S. State Department answers questions about Fogel tepidly, with few specifics and demurs about his case. The Tribune-Review has made repeated requests regarding the Oakmont teacher arrested in August 2021 and sentenced in June 2022 to 14 years in prison. The responses read like form letters.

The department spokespersons who answer say they are in regular contact with the Russian government. They say the U.S. is calling for his release on humanitarian grounds and that they are urging fair treatment and appropriate medical care.

What they consistently fail to do is what was done for Griner. They do not designate Fogel as wrongfully detained, something that since has been done for Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

When asked why, the department will not answer. It will not compare individual cases, officials say. Because of privacy concerns, it cannot comment.

And yet not commenting speaks volumes.

There are obvious differences between Gershkovich’s case and Fogel’s. There are certainly reasons to designate a working journalist as wrongfully detained when accused of espionage. But the comparisons between Griner and Fogel are different.

When Fogel’s story and the numerous editorials we have written regarding that wrongful detention designation are published, comments often are split. People believe he should be released, but people also take issue with having medical marijuana in Russia.

The State Department — and the Biden administration — owe it to Fogel, a teacher who educated diplomats’ children, to speak as openly and honestly about his case as they did about Griner’s.

If it was wrongful to detain a basketball player for possessing medical marijuana, it is wrongful to detain a teacher for the same. Every day Fogel’s detention is not designated wrongful, it seems just a little bit more justified.

Griner deserves to get on with her life. She should get to do her job, travel through airports and not worry about harassment.

Fogel deserves the same. He should not be a footnote in Griner’s story.