Oakmont teacher Marc Fogel talks to family from Russian penal colony after being left out of prisoner swap
BUTLER TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) -- Marc Fogel, the Oakmont teacher who has been imprisoned in a Russian penal colony for three years, spoke with loved ones over the weekend. KDKA-TV got a recording of the message he had for his family.
In all, the two calls last for a total of just under 25 minutes. In it, you can hear the emotions and what Fogel is going through after not being part of a prisoner exchange that brought three other Americans home.
On the call, it doesn't take long to hear how Fogel feels. "Terrible. Terrible," he said.
Being held in a prison about 5 to 6 hours from Moscow is not helping. After not being part of this historic prisoner swap, he sounds like a man who is slowly losing hope.
"I was shocked and sickened. Out of breath and out of energy and like I said, I just feel like my soul is dead," he said.
Over the past three years, Fogel says he's spent 101 days in Russian hospitals, had 300 injections and more than 1,000 pills to treat him. His family has said in the past that he has back problems. Add that on top of celebrating three birthdays isolated from family and friends.
"It just leaves me without feeling and that's not who I am," Fogel said.
Fogel along with his family and friends are upset he's never been designated as wrongfully detained.
When the news came out that he wasn't part of the swap, some prisoners felt sympathy for the Oakmont man. Others, Fogel said, laughed at him.
"Life here has become so immeasurably difficult," Fogel said.
He lays awake at night angered and frustrated, feeling that his country isn't doing enough.
"What can anybody in my position think and act on and do? I'm just beyond words," Fogel said.
At the end of their conversation, his 95-year-old mother Malphine Fogel told her son to not lose faith. She promised to get him home.
"Hang in there," she said.
"I love you, mom," Fogel replied.
"Love you too," his mother said.
The call may end after this, but the call to action by Fogel's mother is nowhere near over.
