MEDIA
Our sincerest thanks to the media who have covered Jimmy's story. Special thanks to Greta, Andrea, Michael and everyone at Newsmax, Tom Fitton and his team at Judicial Watch, Madeleine Kearns at The Free Press, Olivia Land at the NY Post, and John Reid at WRVA Newsradio, a CBS affiliate, who have dedicated their resources to help cover the story about Jimmy Wilgus and all the Americans being detained in Russian prisons.
Media Coverage 2025 Coverage | December 2022 - June 2023 Coverage | July 2023 - December 2023 Coverage | Friends of Jimmy
Other External Sites Wikipedia | Jimmy Wilgus fan managed web site
Social Media regarding Jimmy X
​
Greta Van Susteren THE RECORD
Marc Fogel Classified as "Wrongfully Detained"
December 30, 2024
Newsmax
Jimmy has been in a Russian prison since November 7, 2016,
over 8 years in Mordovia IK-17 Labor Camp.
Greta Van Susteren THE RECORD
December 18, 2024
Newsmax
The Free Press
12.16.24 by Madeleine Kearns
"In other cases, there is very little public information about what a person has done to be targeted. For instance, American Jimmy Wilgus was working in Russia as a musician when his family say he was arrested, beaten by police, tried behind closed doors, and convicted on what they called false charges of indecent exposure. Russian authorities sentenced Wilgus to 12.5 years in IK-17, a penal colony in Mordovia, Russia.
“I’m doing all I can to keep him motivated to not give up,” Jim Wilgus, Jimmy’s 87-year-old father told me. He said that Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, has written to their family a few times to express sympathy. “But, of course, they tell us there’s nothing they can do. It’s up to the president or the secretary of state.”
“We just wait,” said Wilgus. “We wait for something to happen.”
Wilgus’s jailmate, Thomas Stwalley, is another American who protests his innocence. Stwalley’s family said he was grabbed and beaten by police, and falsely convicted of intent to distribute marijuana in 2017. Russell Stwalley, one of Thomas’s brothers, believes his sibling deserves official recognition from the U.S. government as wrongfully detained, and that such a designation would “make the Russians realize that he is a valued citizen.”
[Jimmy] and his father have written to the White House multiple times. It hasn’t helped."
Read the full article here.
Greta Van Susteren THE RECORD
November 7, 2024
Newsmax
Greta Van Susteren THE RECORD
October 9, 2024
Newsmax
Greta Van Susteren THE RECORD
October 2, 2024
Newsmax
Vladimir Putin might not be open to negotiations. But there’s only one way to find out.
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
and
James W. Carden
August 23, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. EDT
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 sent U.S.-Russia relations to dangerous lows. Nevertheless, the breakthrough multinational prisoner exchange that freed two dozen people, including Americans Paul Whelan, Alsu Kurmasheva and Evan Gershkovich, shows that it is still possible for the United States and Russia to come to terms when mutual interests are at stake. Could more be achieved? (Continue reading here (requires subscription))
Lawsuit Filed Against U.S. State Department
Seeks Action for Imprisoned American
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 24, 2024
PR Newswire
Brad Bennett
BKB Strategies
202-697-2070
bradley@bkbstrategies.com
New York, NY – A recently filed lawsuit—James Vincent Wilgus v. United States Department of State, et al., Case No. 24-cv-1384 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia—seeks action on the detention status of Jimmy Wilgus, an American who has served almost eight years in a Russian prison.
The Levinson Act requires the State Department to determine “as expeditiously as possible” whether a person held by a foreign government is wrongfully detained, and if they are wrongfully detained, work to bring them home. Jimmy Wilgus still awaits a review. His parents, James and Bella Wilgus, today issued the following statement:
“For nearly eight years now, our son, Jimmy Wilgus, has been imprisoned in IK-17, a Russian labor colony in Mordovia, on a twelve-and-a-half-year sentence. His imprisonment is based on a coerced confession to false charges that deprives him of his freedom, forces him to work in a sweatshop, and endangers his health.
“We hope each time a prisoner exchange happens that Jimmy will be party to it, but time and again, he is left behind. It’s clear to us that our government uses the arbitrary designation set forth in the Levinson Act as a means to cast favor on select imprisoned Americans while ignoring others.
“Our hopes are dashed each time we witness that an American officially labeled ‘wrongfully detained’ receives a fulsome effort, even if it requires a lopsided prisoner exchange, to gain the American’s freedom. Without the wrongfully detained designation, an imprisoned American like our son is all but ignored. Our country should not abandon its citizens in need, leaving them to fight injustice on their own.
“This lawsuit, as well as a suit filed by Judicial Watch earlier this year, challenges this process and asks the court to act immediately and make a determination whether Jimmy is ‘unlawfully or wrongly detained,’ as required by law.”
Free Jimmy Wilgus is an effort by family and friends who seek the release of Jimmy Wilgus from unjust Russian imprisonment. More information about Jimmy is available at www.freejimmywilgus.com.
​
​
Tags: detention | levinson | wilgus
OPINION
Need Something from Uncle Sam? Sue First
Monday, 23 September 2024 09:27 AM EDT
Apparently, the Biden administration believes it can pick and choose what work it wants to do, and what work it doesn’t. It believes it can choose which Americans it wants to serve, and which ones it doesn’t.
American musician Jimmy Wilgus was in Moscow, Russia working on the soundtrack for a motion picture when he was arrested nearly eight years ago and charged with indecent exposure — in an area he was unfamiliar with. (Read article here)
Greta Van Susteren - THE RECORD
Aug 8, 2024 Newsmax
Greta Van Susteren THE RECORD
August 2, 2024
Newsmax
Judicial Watch: What's State Dept. Doing to Free U.S. Hostages?
By Michael Dorstewitz Friday, 05 July 2024 10:11 AM EDT ET
While Americans celebrated the 248th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, wherein the Founders pledged their "lives, fortunes, and sacred honor" in the pursuit of freedom, Americans today have lost their own freedom at the hands of foreign tyrants. (Continue to article)
Who are the nine US citizens still detained in Russia?
NY Post
By
Olivia Land
Published Aug. 2, 2024, 2:31 p.m. ET
Greta mentions Jimmy in an interview with Diane Foley of the Diane Foley Legacy Foundation. Full video interview below.
Courtesy of Newsmax The Record with Greta Van Susteren March 12, 2024
Greta mentions Jimmy in her coverage of the History of the White House State of the Union Address.
Courtesy of Newsmax The Record with Greta Van Susteren March 7, 2024
