A Russian court released a French cyclist on Thursday after he had been held for over seven weeks on allegations of illegally crossing the border, even though he was found guilty of the offense.
Sofiane Sehili, aged 44, was apprehended at the Russian-Chinese border in early September while attempting to set a record for the quickest endurance cycling journey from Lisbon to Vladivostok.
According to a spokesperson for the court in the Primorsky region of Russia’s Far East, “He was initially convicted of unlawfully crossing the border and fined 50,000 rubles ($612)”.
However, she added, he was “exempted from the fine and was released directly from the courtroom” due to the time he spent in custody prior to the trial.
In video footage released by the court, Sehili was observed wearing cycling shoes and standing in a metal enclosure designated for defendants just before his release.
His partner, Fanny Bensussan, expressed her joy at the decision.
“He’s going home,” she wrote on Instagram, mentioning that it would take a few days to organize his return to France.
Russian authorities claimed that the French cyclist tried to enter Russia from China through a border crossing designated solely for trains and buses.
However, abandoning his bicycle to use public transport would have jeopardized his record after cycling thousands of kilometers over the span of more than 60 days.
Sehili had set out from Lisbon in early July with plans to traverse 17 countries before reaching Vladivostok in early September.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, several Western nationals have been detained in Russia.
