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Kazakh court jails 3 Belgian football fans who dressed up as Borat

A Kazakh court sentenced three Belgian football fans to short jail terms after they dressed in mankini swimsuits made famous by the Borat film.

Police detained the Belgian citizens during the Champions League match between Kairat Almaty and Club Brugge on Tuesday evening, according to the news agency Belga. Police said the men were drunk, removed their clothes and caused a disturbance. On Thursday, an Astana court sentenced the men to five days of administrative detention for disrupting public order.

video circulating on X showed three men wearing green mankini-style swimsuits despite freezing temperatures in eastern Kazakhstan, while chanting in Dutch “Borat is van ons ole ole,” or “Borat is ours.”

A spokesperson for Belgium’s foreign ministry told POLITICO on Thursday that it was “monitoring” the case together with the Belgian embassy in Astana. “We are providing our fellow citizens with the necessary consular support,” the spokesperson said.

British actor Sacha Baron Cohen created the character Borat, a fictional Kazakh journalist, in a satirical TV show that lampooned attitudes in the U.K. and the U.S. A 2006 movie adaptation, in which Cohen appeared as Borat in a neon-green mankini, became an international hit.

The movie initially angered Kazakh officials, who banned it. Years later, Kazakhstan’s then-foreign minister said he was “grateful” for the character’s role in attracting tourists, and when a second film was released in 2020 the country embraced Borat’s catchphrase “Very nice” in tourism campaigns.

Club Brugge won the match 4-1, keeping it alive in the UEFA Champions League, Europe’s top football competition.

LP Staff Writers

Writers at Lord’s Press come from a range of professional backgrounds, including history, diplomacy, heraldry, and public administration. Many publish anonymously or under initials—a practice that reflects the publication’s long-standing emphasis on discretion and editorial objectivity. While they bring expertise in European nobility, protocol, and archival research, their role is not to opine, but to document. Their focus remains on accuracy, historical integrity, and the preservation of events and individuals whose significance might otherwise go unrecorded.

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