"We Feel Betrayed": Family of Montana Teacher Left Out of Prisoner Swap Expresses Outrage

Menzmag ☑

Transcript

00:00New tonight, Left Behind. American teacher Mark Fogel of Montana, tonight, remains in

00:09a Russian penal colony. He was not part of today's prison swap that freed 24 other detainees.

00:15The 63-year-old was arrested in the Moscow airport in 2021. The reason, he had half an

00:21ounce of prescribed medical marijuana in his luggage. Prescribed medical marijuana. For

00:26that, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison. His sister, Anne, is out front now. And Anne,

00:32you and I have spoken over the years here. Would have hoped tonight would have been a

00:37very different conversation, but senior administration officials telling us, and I'm quoting them,

00:43we absolutely wanted Mark to be included, but it just wasn't going to happen. How devastating

00:49is this day for you? The last 36 hours have been gut-wrenching. We knew that something

01:01was going on yesterday from the news feeds, and we started calling our senators and the

01:09ambassadors that we knew and the State Department, and we really hoped that they were going to

01:18get Mark on the plane. We knew that it was going to be happening very quickly. But Mark

01:24called me yesterday morning, and when I realized that he was in Rybinsk, I knew that things

01:34were not going well, because he should have been gone. And it's been a roller coaster.

01:48It's been a roller coaster. No sleep. I feel like we've been kind of collectively stabbed

01:56in the back. They've asked for his humanitarian release, but of course, Russia does not release

02:08on humanitarian grounds and has had no history of ever doing that. And they're not really

02:14liking us very well anyway. So it's kind of an insult to injury that he still has not

02:23been designated as wrongfully detained.

02:26You know, you and I have spoken about that over these years, and you've been pleading

02:30with the Biden administration, because those words matter. There's a formal designation

02:33wrongfully detained. It's official, and it's an important first step in terms of any kind

02:41of a release or a negotiation. They used the words today when talking about him, but that

02:47formal designation has not happened. Why not? Have they said anything to you, Anne,

02:53as to why?

02:55No. And after multiple documents signed by Mark, by our family, they will not give us

03:04any adequate answers as to why he has not been designated as Brittany was. I mean, their

03:12cases are nearly identical.

03:16Same court, different sentences, both were sentenced to the maximum. But there was a

03:27report given, a classified report given in June, and they didn't even really have the

03:37facts of the case straight. It's as if they have, Mark has been prioritized through this

03:44entire process. It's been one of the most frustrating times of my life to not be heard

04:01or taken seriously. We don't have the NBA, and we don't have the Wall Street Journal

04:09backing us. And so we've been, Mark has been largely ignored, and he needs the designation

04:19because he needs real medical treatment. He fell, he's fallen multiple times. It's very

04:27cold where he is, and there's lots of ice, and things are just not going well for him.

04:36He spent the last month in a hospital where there are no doctors, but he's given multitudes

04:47of injections and not having any clear understanding of what they're giving him or why. And you

04:58can imagine how terrifying that would be.

05:02And it's hard to imagine it, but we can all see the pain that you're in, your family's

05:09in. I know you're a 95-year-old mother, and our thoughts are all with you. I know in a

05:13day that is full of joy for other families, it's important to see the pain that you are

05:21going through, your family. Thank you for sharing it.

05:25Thank you. Thank you for having me.

05:29Thanks so much to Anne, and of course to all of you. AC 360 starts now.

Category

Transcript

Recommended