'Unbelievable': Marc Fogel's mother celebrates son's release from Russian prison

When Malphine Fogel heard the words, she felt dizzy.

She took a seat and tried to collect herself.

Her son, Marc Fogel, was on the other end of a phone line in Moscow. He was coming home from a Russian prison after more than three years.

“He said, ‘I’m waiting to get on a plane to Washington, D.C.’ I just was totally blown away,” Malphine, 95, told TribLive from her Butler Township home and Marc’s childhood home Tuesday. “I could tell that he was fighting tears.”

The Oakmont teacher, who taught history at the now-shuttered Anglo-American School in Moscow, had been imprisoned in Russia since August 2021 for possession of medical marijuana prescribed to treat chronic pain from a debilitating spinal condition. He was charged with drug smuggling and drug possession.

Marc was assigned to a Russian penal colony and, during two separate interviews with TribLive, described difficult living conditions. He had been hospitalized at least four times.

Though the call from her son Monday night was brief, Malphine said she could tell Marc was “very happy” on the phone. She said she was in shock by the 11 p.m. call, even though she advocated daily for his release.

“First, I got dizzy,” Malphine said. “I thought, ‘I better sit down.’ ”

Rather than calling in the morning from prison as usual, Marc had called from a Moscow airport.

“It was a little alarming,” she said.

Marc said “buongiorno,” which means “good morning” in Italian, to his mom on the phone as soon as she picked up.

“He surprised me because he usually calls in the morning, which is their dinnertime (in Russia),” Malphine said. “Every time he calls me, he says ‘buongiorno.’ ”

‘Just a feeling’

Kathy Andreassi, a cousin, told TribLive on Tuesday afternoon that she’d been in tears since she found out about Marc’s release a few hours earlier.

“I was getting my oil changed, and I sat in the waiting room bawling my eyes out,” she said.

Andreassi’s phone started “exploding” with messages.

She rushed over to Malphine’s home.

“I had just told her this would be her birthday present — she was going to have Marc with her,” Andreassi said.

Malphine turns 96 on March 11.

“The last few weeks, I have felt a little hopeful,” Malphine said of her son’s potential return. “For what reason? I don’t know.”

She hadn’t received any official communication regarding Marc’s release. She said it was “just a feeling.”

That feeling could’ve coincided with President Donald Trump’s January inauguration, Malphine said, and she expressed gratitude for his and local lawmakers’ roles in advocating for Marc.

“I have to credit President Trump,” she said.

Malphine met and spoke with Trump during a July 13 rally in Butler — just hours before an assassination attempt on the then-presidential candidate.

“I said, ‘You’ve got to remember Marc’s name,’ and he repeated it,” she said. “I really think he was instrumental in getting this to happen.”

Malphine also credited Sasha Phillips, an attorney who’s been working with the Fogel family for three years.

Phillips praised Malphine’s resolve.

“The woman is my absolute personal hero,” Phillips said. “The way she fought for her son. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone work so hard. She made it happen.”

For any American citizen taken prisoner in a foreign country in the future, Malphine said she hopes they’re given the proper attention so they don’t have to wait as long as Marc did.

On Aug. 1, Marc was left behind after a multinational deal left him in a Russian prison while other Americans being held there came home.

“I think our politicians have done their job,” she said. “I just wish that things had moved a little faster, and I’m not sure if that was possible or not, but we’re grateful.”

Prison recovery

An avid reader, Marc read “Moby Dick” three times while he was detained, Malphine told TribLive — and he completed the more than 1,200 pages of “War and Peace.”

He had to eventually part with the books he received, according to Malphine.

“He said there was nothing to do,” she said. “He wasn’t doing hard labor, either.”

Marc is also passionate about politics and sports, especially Pittsburgh’s favorites.

“The first thing he asked me when he called on Monday morning: What did the Steelers do?” Malphine said. “People kept him informed about the local sports teams; he’s up to date on what’s going on.”

However, when Marc called his mom, she wouldn’t ask him about any details of life in Russian prison.

“She didn’t feel like she should ask any questions when he called,” Andreassi said.

That’s because every word of Marc’s was monitored, she said.

“He couldn’t be sure that what he said might be a detriment to his stay there and might make things even worse,” Andreassi said.

But Malphine said she knows he will need physical and/or psychological help once he returns to Western Pennsylvania. She heard he might need to go to a medical facility in San Antonio, Texas.

“I’m glad it’s a medical facility because he needs attention,” she said. “I don’t care, as long as I know he’s in the country and they’re taking care of him.”

During his time in a Russian prison, Malphine said, Marc was given unknown treatments for his spinal condition.

“He has a hard time walking, and they would give him medications, but he didn’t know what he was taking,” she said. “He was in the hospital a number of times in Russia.”

Marc’s leg had been bothering him again through his sciatic nerve, along with his back and hips.

“He’s suffered a lot of pain. I don’t think it’s the kind of pain that would just knock you over; I just think it’s just a constant gnawing — I don’t think it ever went away,” she said. “He needed something for the pain.”

Homecoming

Marc was set to land at 9 p.m. Tuesday in Washington, D.C. Though Malphine is unclear when she will get to see him in person.

“It’s unbelievable,” she said. “It hasn’t quite registered.”

Malphine said she’s excited to have Marc back in his childhood home so she can feed him his favorite foods, including a bowl of soup.

“I want to touch him,” she said. “I just want to see him.”

Andreassi said there will be lots of tears, but this time, they will be joyful.

“Those hundreds of rosaries finally paid off,” she said.

The Fogel family largely turned to prayer over the past few years during Marc’s absence.

“It’s something that never, ever went away,” Malphine said of Marc’s detainment. “You wake up with that. You go to bed with it.”

She prayed the rosary sometimes multiple times per day in hopes of her son’s return to America.

“The only thing that gave you any comfort was praying,” Malphine said. “I think our prayers are answered.”

While talking with TribLive, Andreassi received a texted photo of Marc making what appeared to be a toast on an airplane and showed it to Malphine.

“Is he kissing a beer?” she asked, laughing at the photo with joy. “I can’t imagine how he’s feeling — it’s probably disbelief.”