A resolution in the United States Senate calling for the immediate release of several Americans imprisoned in Russia, including one sentenced to 14 years for possessing medical marijuana, has gained its 22nd sponsor, representing nearly a fourth of the entire chamber.
Senator Alex Padilla has signed on as a cosponsor to Senate Resolution 629, days after it was introduced in the Senate by a coalition of 21 senators led by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and John Fetterman (D-PA).
The resolution formally condemns the Russian government for their arrests of several American citizens and calling for their immediate and unconditioned release. One of those currently jailed in Russia is Marc Fogel, a school teacher who has been sentenced to 14 years simple for possessing a small amount of marijuana that was recommended by his physician.
When the bill was introduced, Senator John Fetterman, who is from the same state as Fogel, said:
I’m proud to stand with my colleagues today and again call for the immediate release of all Americans arbitrarily detained in Russia, including Marc Fogel, a Pennsylvanian”, said Senator Fetterman when the bill was introduced. “Marc is a history teacher who dedicated the last 35 years of his life to teaching young people. When he returned for his tenth and final year teaching in Russia, Marc was detained for carrying a small amount of medical marijuana, which was prescribed by his doctor.
But Marc has now spent over a year of a fourteen-year sentence in a Russian prison because of a bogus ‘large-scale drug trafficking’ conviction. A fourteen-year sentence is absurd – even by Russian standards. The bottom line is that Marc’s punishment simply does not match the crime. We must bring Marc, and all other unjustly detained Americans, home
The resolution is cosponsored by Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Bob Casey (D-PA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Angus King (I-ME), Patty Murray (D-WA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Peter Welch (D-VT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
In December a bipartisan coalition of 15 federal lawmakers sent a letter to the Biden Administration requesting that they include Fogel in any future prisoner swaps.
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