French cyclist Sofiane Sehili, arrested and detained in Russia since September, has been released

A Russian court sentenced him to a fine for “illegally crossing the border”, which he was exempted from paying due to the time spent in pre-trial detention.

Sofiane Sehili released from detention. The 44-year-old French cyclist, who was arrested in early September in the Russian Far East and then imprisoned, was sentenced on Thursday October 23 for “illegal border crossing” Russian, and released. A court in the Primorye region in Russia's Far East punished him with“a fine of 50,000 rubles” (around 530 euros), announced judge Irina Billé, cited by the Russian public agency RIA Novosti.

However, taking into account the time spent in pre-trial detention, the endurance cyclist was exempted from paying the fine and released in the court room, according to the same source. Sofiane Sehili was accused of “illegal border crossing” Russian, according to his lawyer, and risked up to two years in prison. He left Lisbon at the beginning of July, and planned to cycle through 17 countries to arrive at Vladivostok, in the Russian Far East, at the beginning of September and break a world record.

Sofiane Sehili 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. Russian justice initially extended his pre-trial detention until October 4, before extending it until November 3.

His companion Fanny Bensussan declared to France 3 Occitanie in September that the cyclist had decided to present himself to the customs officers, convinced that they would still let him pass by bicycle, but had been arrested. “He only thought about his sporting achievement”she explained. “Sofiane comes home”she rejoiced Thursday in a post on Instagram.