Russia Sentences Former US Diplomat To 14 Years For Cannabis Possession

From Diplomat To English Instructor To Penal Colony

As section of the investigation, Russian law enforcement released footage of searches done by investigators at the now shut faculty in Moscow.

The U.S. Embassy did not elaborate on Fogel’s case or on his diplomatic standing, which he may have held, in that he was a employees member at the university when he was arrested. The school was previously run by the U.S. embassy.

Fogel, who is in his 60s, argued that a medical doctor proposed cannabis to him for managing soreness right after spinal operation and that he was not aware that medical marijuana was illegal in Russia.

“He insists that it was medical marijuana and statements that a medical doctor approved it to him in the United States, which is allegedly confirmed by an entry in the healthcare report,” Alexander Khurudzhi, a member of a Moscow human legal rights committee, reported CBS News.

Associated: Reefer Madness Is Alive And Perfectly In Russia

According to Russia’s Interfax news company, Fogel pleaded guilty to smuggling, storing, transporting, producing and processing narcotic prescription drugs and was sentenced to provide his prison phrase at a maximum-security penal colony.

In addition to Griner, many Us residents are detained in Russian prisons, and vice versa.

In April, the United States exchanged former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed, sentenced by a Russian courtroom to 9 many years in prison for violence, for a Russian pilot who experienced been in a U.S. jail given that 2010.

This short article initially appeared on Benzinga and has been reposted with authorization.