Marc Fogel's lawyer questions delay in wrongful detention designation under Biden

Record ID: 1965279

  • Title: Marc Fogel's lawyer questions delay in wrongful detention designation under Biden
  • Date: 12th February 2025
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY 11, 2025) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) PARTNER AT BOIES SCHILLER FLEXNER AND PART OF MARC FOGEL’S U.S. LEGAL TEAM, MARTIN DE LUCA, SAYING: "Marc's case was not unlike Brittney Griner's case. One had medically prescribed marijuana. The other one had oil cannabis. But at the end day, the concept was the same, which is the basis for the wrongful detention designation." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) PARTNER AT BOIES SCHILLER FLEXNER AND PART OF MARC FOGEL’S U.S. LEGAL TEAM, MARTIN DE LUCA, SAYING: "He's such a happy, optimistic and positive person. I don't think he's going to have that difficult of a time getting back to normal. Of course, this experience is horrible and traumatizing for anyone, but I've never seen somebody want to be alive and wanting to be back more than Marc. So obviously, the government and the State Department through the envoy hostage affairs, provides a lot of support for for people that go through this experience and their families. And that's part of the support is before release. But a lot of the resources that go in are after the release, and they do a really, really good job, from what I hear, about supporting the families and the those wrongfully detained when they come home. So now they'll get to shine and and show us that."
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Marc Fogel Martin de luca Russia lawyers
  • Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES/ MOSCOW & KRASNOGORSK, MOSCOW REGION, RUSSIA
  • City: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES/ MOSCOW & KRASNOGORSK, MOSCOW REGION, RUSSIA
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,North America,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA008073311022025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: After Marc Fogel, an American school teacher detained in Russia since August 2021, was released, his lawyer, Martin De Luca, said that the election of Donald Trump was a turning point in bringing Fogel back to the U.S.
    According to De Luca, a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner, it was not until after Trump took office in January that
    Fogel received the wrongful detention designation from the State Department, which his team had been seeking.
    De Luca told Reuters Fogel was released "in a manner that Russia had never really released an American before," allowing the special envoy for Middle Eastern affairs, Steve Witkoff, to pick him up from Moscow on a non-stop flight back to Washington D.C.
    "Does it really need to be so hard?" De Luca pondered, referring to past diplomatic engagements with Russia.
    Trump told reporters that Fogel would visit the White House on his return to the U.S. late on Tuesday, and White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said he would also be reunited Tuesday night with his family, who celebrated the news.
    On a plane home, Fogel, who is from Pennsylvania, was shown with a raised glass, a cheese plate and his U.S. passport in a photo posted on social media by Trump's chief hostage envoy Adam Boehler.
    Asked what the United States gave up in exchange for Fogel, Trump said: "Not much" and called the release a show of good faith from the Russians.
    Fogel was left out of a historic swap of prisoners in August that involved 24 prisoners - 16 sent from Russia to the West, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and eight sent back to Russia from the West.
    (Production: Gerardo Gomez)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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