The French cyclist Sofiane Sehili, 44 years oldwho was arrested when he tried to break the world record for the Eurasian bicycle route, which starts in Lisbon and goes to Vladivostok, Russiareturned this Sunday (26) to France. Accused of illegally crossing the border between China and Russia, he was held in pre-trial detention for 50 days, according to the report. The World.
The crossing that would end on Russian soil had, at its destination, a frightening end. At the beginning of September, the Frenchman shared on social media that he had not been authorized to cross the Sino-Russian border, but still, he tells AFP, he decided to “try to cross the border illegally”. He admits that there could be a possibility that the crossing request would be approved the following day, but if that were the case “he would not have had the opportunity to break the record”.
The authorities China customs they control the borders a lot, said the cyclist, adding that his crossing was not forismibelieved to have already tried twice to enter Russia.
“I didn’t imagine that ia could follow the border until you find a place where the terrain is easy to cross, but that’s what happened,” he said. Walked by within athe forest for four hours until reaching Russian soil, but to avoid encountering the Russian authorities he had to continue on the same path. “A Night was about to fall and I told myself that all this had gone on long enough, that it wasn’t very smart to try this anyway”, admitted the Frenchman.
The athlete confesses that he was “a little naive” in believing that the authorities would send him “relatively fast” for China.
With the War in Ukraine, the atmosphere on Russian borders is one of great tension. “They seized my GPS, my cell phone, my cameras, they analyzed everything, and I found myself unable to lie to them and make them believe that I hadn’t done it on purpose,” he continued.
“I was treated like any other person who had done what I did,” he says, ensuring that he received fair treatment. He explains that he was detained normally: “it’s not a place where they take you and put you in a cell without understanding anything about what’s happening”.
Sofiane Sehili was released this Sunday, October 23rd, and according to CNN Brazilwas forced to pay a fine of 50 thousand rubles (around 542 euros) for “illegal border crossing”. All the belongings he carried with him were returned to him.
The bicycle trip that began on July 1st, where the cyclist passed through 17 countries, it ended without the Frenchman being able to surpass the record. Secondo o Guinness World Records, the German Jonas Deichmann completed the Eurasian route in 64 days, 2 hours and 26 minutes.
Text written by Margarida Nogueira and edited by Pedro Miguel Coelho
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