Marc Fogel had been arrested by customs officers as he arrived from New York at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow with his wife.
” US Citizen (Marc) Fogel Found Guilty ” of ” large-scale drug smuggling when crossing the Russian border as well as large-scale illegal storage of narcotics without commercial purpose “, announced in a press release the court of Khimki, in the west of the Russia. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
” Marijuana and hash oil »
Authorities say the former diplomat was arrested in August 2021. During customs control, marijuana and hashish oil were found in his luggage “, they had indicated last January. The drugs were camouflaged in contact lens packaging » and « electronic cigarette cartridges “, according to them.
In his defense, the ex-diplomat who worked as a teacher in an American school in Moscow had put forward that marijuana was medical. It had been prescribed to him after spinal surgery, he said. But Russia does not recognize the medicinal use of the product. A fact that the convict was unaware of, he said.
Prisoner exchanges
Mr. Fogel therefore joins the various Americans detained in Russia. Several Russian nationals are also being held in US prisons. These prisoners are often the subject of tensions between the two States which sometimes carry out exchanges. At the end of April, for example, former US Navy Trevor Reed, sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia for violence, was traded for a Russian pilot who has been incarcerated in the United States since 2010.
(with AFP)