US teacher jailed in Russia is formally designated as wrongfully detained

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department says an American schoolteacher arrested in Russia on drug charges more than four years ago has been designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained. Marc Fogel, a history teacher from Pennsylvania, is serving a 14-year prison sentence after being arrested in August 2021 at a Russian airport and possessing what his family and supporters said was medically prescribed marijuana. After he was omitted from a massive prisoner swap last August with Russia, his family’s lawyers made another push for the Biden administration to secure his freedom, including by designating him as wrongfully detained. The State Department said Friday that that designation had been made in October.