Kazakhstan has jailed three Club Brugge football fans who wore the fluorescent green “mankini” one-piece swimsuit associated with the fictional movie character Borat during their football team’s Champions League match in Almaty.

The trio were pulled from the crowd during the match against Kairat Almaty and were brought before a city court that sentenced them to five days in prison for public order offences, Belgian media reported on January 22.

The revealing sling-style flimsy swimwear for men that features a V-shaped garment covering the crotch was popularised by the British actor-comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in his mockumentary film Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. The film satirises both Kazakhstan and the US and has long been controversial in the Central Asian country.

More than 500 Club Brugge fans travelled close to 6,000 kilometres (3,728 miles) to attend the match in Almaty. Witnesses were quoted by news reports as saying that the men removed their outer clothing in a Almaty Arena stadium stand to reveal the costume before being escorted away by police. Almaty police were reported as saying the matter concerned “acts during a football match that showed disrespect and disturbed public order”.

Authorities were further cited as saying that administrative cases had also been opened for public drunkenness and minor hooliganism. 

Belgium’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was following the situation.

Baron Cohen’s Borat character (depicted above), presented as a journalist from a former Soviet Central Asian republic, plays on Western stereotypes of Kazakhstan while lampooning American politics and society. The original 2006 film prompted a strong backlash in Kazakhstan, where officials discouraged screenings and threatened legal action over what they regarded as an affront to the country’s image.

By the time a follow-up film was released in 2020, however, the authorities had softened their stance, even adopting Borat’s catchphrase “Very Nice!” in an effort to promote tourism.

In 2006, then Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev chuckled when asked about Borat while on a visit to the UK. “The very fact that you have put that question – you will want to learn more and come to Kazakhstan to see for yourself,” he said.