Former Manchester City and Real Madrid footballer Robinho was arrested in Brazil on Thursday after a last-minute bid to defer his nine-year sentence for raping a woman a decade ago failed. Supreme Court Justice Luis Fox rejected Robinho’s request for a stay and ruled “to maintain the detention order … so that he can begin serving his sentence.” Federal police in the southeastern city of Santos said in a statement to AFP on Thursday night China said its forces “issued an arrest warrant for Robson de Souza…”.
“The inmates will undergo examinations at the (Medico-Legal Institute), custody hearings and will be transported to the prison system.”
The footballer, popularly known as “Robinho”, was found guilty by an Italian court in 2017 of gang-raping an Albanian woman celebrating her 23rd birthday in a Milan nightclub four years ago.
The 40-year-old former Brazil international lost his appeal in 2020 and had his original sentence upheld by the Italian Supreme Court in 2022, after which Italian prosecutors issued an international arrest warrant for him.
However, Brazil did not extradite its national and Italy demanded that Robinho serve his sentence in his home country.
A Brasilia court voted nine to two in favor on Wednesday, and on Thursday court president María Teresa de Assis Mora signed a document paving the way for a jail order for Robinho. the road.
Journalists flocked to his luxury apartment in Guarujá, near Santos, but his arrest was not caught on camera. Global Network then aired a brief video showing him inside a police station.
A federal police officer told reporters that Robinho would be taken to Tremembe prison, about 150 kilometers (95 miles) southeast of Sao Paulo, the most populous city in the United States.
His lawyers have petitioned the Supreme Court to allow him to remain free while challenging the court’s latest ruling.
That was rejected.
“Cruelly humiliated”
The footballer, who is protesting his innocence, said in a recorded interview on Brazilian network television broadcast on Sunday that the sex was consensual and accused the Italian justice system of racism.
According to the indictment, Robinho and his co-defendants made the young woman drink alcohol, “rendering her unconscious and unable to resist,” and then had “several sexual intercourse” with her.
In March 2021, the Milan Court of Appeal found that Robinho’s behavior was “particularly contemptuous of the victim, who was cruelly humiliated.”
Robinho’s case, along with that of former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain defender Dani Alves, has fueled criticism of Brazilian football authorities’ failure to condemn violence against women.
In February, 40-year-old former Brazil international defender Alves was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for raping a woman in a Barcelona nightclub.
On Thursday, Palmeiras president Leila Pereira, the Brazilian club’s first female president, slammed the football world for its silence over the twin rape convictions of Robinho and Alves.
“No one said anything,” she told Brazil’s UOL news website.
“This is a slap in the face for all of us women, especially the case of Daniel Alves, who paid the price for his freedom,” Pereira said, referring to a Spanish court decision on Wednesday. According to the decision, Alves was granted a bail of 1 million euros.
“Every case of impunity is the seed for the next crime,” she added.
Criminal lawyer Leonardo Pantaleo told AFP that Robinho would not be free soon because Brazil “does not allow bail” for the crimes he is accused of.
Fall from favor
It was a dramatic fall from grace for Robinho.
In 2002, he started his career with the Santos team, which is famous for Brazilian star Pele and is known as the successor of the golden generation of Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho.
In 2005, he joined Real Madrid together with Zidane, Ronaldo and Beckham.
He went on to play for Manchester City from 2008 to 2010 and played for Milan for four years until 2014.
In 2009, he was briefly detained in the UK on suspicion of sexually assaulting a young woman, but the charges were dropped following an investigation.
He sought a return to Santos in 2020, but the club suspended the deal amid pressure from fans and sponsors, leading to an abrupt end to his career.
Around the same time, TV channel Globo Sports released excerpts of a recording used by Italian prosecutors to secure the conviction, in which Robinho allegedly said: “I laugh because I don’t care. The woman was completely drunk. She was Don’t know.” Don’t even know what happened. “
Robinho played 100 times for Brazil and scored 28 goals.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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