FRANCETV DOCUMENT. “This decision seems fair to me,” reacts cyclist Sofiane Sehili after his release in Russia

“It was obviously a big relief.” Sofiane Sehili, a 44-year-old French cyclist, reacted after his release on Thursday October 23. “This decision seems right to me”he believes, interviewed on the telephone by Anne Ponsinet, France Télévisions correspondent in Moscow. Incarcerated since the beginning of September in Russia, he was released after being fined for “illegally crossing the border”.

“I obviously made a mistake with Russian laws, which I shouldn't have donehe admits, explaining that he “had his reasons”, on which he did not dwell. He recalls not having had “no bad intentions” and have, “from the beginning, cooperated with the authorities and law enforcement.”

Sofiane Sehili risked up to two years in prison. He was arrested in early September in the Russian Far East, supposed to be the final stage of his world record Eurasian bicycle crossing. He had wanted to cycle to Russia from China via a border crossing which could only be crossed by train or bus, according to the head of a public prison control commission, Vladimir Naïdine. However, using these modes of transport would have invalidated his record after more than 60 days and thousands of kilometers of effort. The athlete left Lisbon at the beginning of July, and planned to cross 17 countries to arrive in Vladivostok, in the Russian Far East, at the beginning of September.