By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
After a night of detention in Slovenia, Romain Sato was released from local authorities after presenting himself to the state’s prosecutor and returned to Istanbul. He will miss Friday’s game of Fenerbahce/ Ulker against Olimpija Ljubljana because of his brutal experience, as the press release of Fenerbahce/ Ulker indicates: “Our player spend the night awake and had a traumatic experience”.
Fenerbahce still believes that there are many grey spots in this case: “We want to reiterate that our fight against this unjust treatment towards our player and our team will continue on a legal basis.”
As Kosarka.si reported, according to Slovenian police, Sato’s passport was fake: “Police of Kranj confirmed today that they arrested a foreign citizen, who didn’t have valid papers to enter the country. On 18.10.2012, around 14.30 the officers at the airport of Ljubljana Jože Pucnik at the border control discovered that the 31 year old man, a citizen of Central African Republic, came to the border with a fake passport. Officers detained the man and will give him to the public prosecutor in Kranj”.
However according to the same article his punishment so far, aside from spending on night in police custody and returning to Istanbul, is a fine of 1.500 euros which will be used for humanitarian causes.