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A Russian court has jailed a US teacher for 14 years over what it called “large-scale” cannabis smuggling, BBC reports.
March Fogel was employed as an English teacher in Moscow at the time of his arrest, having previously worked at the US embassy in Moscow, according to the BBC.
Several
cities in the U.S. have legalized cannabis but the drug remains illegal in
Russia. Another US citizen Brittney Griner, a basketball star is also facing
similar marijuana related case in the same jurisdiction.
"The
American citizen Fogel has been found guilty," a court in the Moscow
suburb of Khimki said in a statement, according to the BBC.
The BBC
quoted the news release saying that the English teacher had committed “large-scale
drugs smuggling” in addition to “large-scale illegal storage of drugs with a
commercial purpose”.
The convict
who is in his 60s had around 17g (0.6oz) of cannabis in his luggage when he was
caught on 15 August 2021 at Sheremetyevo airport, he told lawyers, according to
the BBC.
Fogel said a
doctor had prescribed the drug for medical reasons after he had spinal surgery,
and that he was not aware medical marijuana was illegal in Russia, BBC
reported. Although local authorities have not commented on the amount of drugs
Fogel was carrying, Russian law stipulates 100g of marijuana to be a “large
amount” of the banned substance.
Mr Fogel
pleaded guilty to smuggling, storing, transporting, manufacturing and
processing narcotic drugs, the BBC quoted Russia’s Interfax news agency.