The French ultracyclist Sofiane Sehili, who was detained in far-eastern Russia for seven weeks, has been released.
Sehili was arrested in early September, 200 km from the end of an 18,000 km world record attempt riding across Eurasia. His attempts to cross the border from China to Russia were blocked twice, before Sehili – who had a valid Russian e-visa – tried a third route. When he presenting himself at a checkpoint on the Russian side, he was detained and accused of crossing the border illegally.
Over the weeks since, concerns grew that he would become a political pawn due to Russia's deteriorating relationship with the west. However, after his detention was extended once, he appeared before the court in Pogranichny and was freed, with the court saying that Sehili had admitted his guilt. A 50,000 rouble fine (US$615) was also waived.
"So this is the end of this adventure in Russia," Sehili told Reuters. "It is a good verdict for me so I am happy. I think I will try and keep finding the positive things here and not try to dwell too much on the negative and try to keep a somewhat, a good memory of Russia."
Sehili provided a further update in a social media post on Friday after having finally left Russia.
"Most of you heard the good news yesterday that I was released from custody after 50 days spent in detention in Russia," he said in a video. "I have another good news to share with you today. It is that I was allowed to leave the Russian Federation territory immediately upon my release, and so this morning, I hopped on a plane in Vladivostok that took me to Thailand, where I am right now."
The Frenchman said that he will be heading home within the next few days.
"I will at some point in the future talk more about what happened during this 50 days, and I will also explain the reasons that pushed me to act in such a foolish way," he continued. "But now is not the time. Now is the time to rejoice, to be happy, to be relieved that's this pretty dark chapter of my life is finally over, and that I will soon be among my loved ones, with my family, and also that I will soon be riding bikes again, because spending two months without riding bikes is way too long. But, yeah, it's over now."
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