Football fans jailed for wearing ‘Borat’ mankinis at a Champions League match (Photos)

A court in Kazakhstan has jailed three Belgian football fans for dressing up as the fictional movie character Borat during a Champions League match in the Central Asian country.

Footage broadcast on Kazakh television showed the trio wearing the trademark green mankinis during the stands of Tuesday’s match between Kairat Almaty and Club Brugge.

The court in the capital Astana said on Thursday it had sentenced three Belgian citizens, identified only by their initials, to five days in jail on public order offences, according to Mail Online.

‘While intoxicated in the stands of the Astana Arena stadium, S., D., and N. removed their clothing, remaining in their underwear, and chanted to attract attention, thereby disturbing public order,’ the court said.

The three fans were pulled from the crowd and immediately taken to the police station, according to their friend Matthieu, who witnessed the incident. 

‘They did it for fun, but the police considered it an insult,’ he told local media.

The trademark green mankinis made famous by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s hit movie is about a crude fictional TV reporter from Kazakhstan.

Jokes related to Borat are rarely appreciated in Kazakhstan, which has for years been trying to combat the image of the country presented in the 2006 comedy.