2024-03-22T08:02:55+00:00
A-
A
A+
/ Agence France-Presse reported on Friday that the Brazilian authorities arrested the former English Manchester City and Real Madrid star, Robson de Souza, known as “Robinho”, after he lost at the last minute an attempt to appeal the decision to imprison him for nine years on charges of gang rape. 10 years ago in Italy.
The French agency reported that Supreme Court Judge Louise Fuchs rejected the request of former international striker Robinho (40 years old) to stay the execution and ruled “to maintain the detention order until he can begin serving his sentence.”
The Federal Police in the city of Santos, southeastern Brazil, said in a statement to Agence France-Presse yesterday evening, Thursday, that its forces “executed an arrest warrant against Robson de Sousa,” known as Robinho.
She continued, “The prisoner will undergo an examination at the (Medico-Legal Institute) and a hearing and will be sent to prison.”
Journalists flocked to Robinho’s luxury apartment in Guaruja, near Santos, without being able to take pictures of his arrest, while the Globo network later broadcast a video clip showing him inside the police station.
A federal police officer told reporters that Robinho would be transferred to a prison in Tremembe, about 150 kilometers southeast of Sao Paulo, the country’s most populous city.
Judges in Brazil previously ruled yesterday, Wednesday, that the former “Seleção” star must serve a nine-year prison sentence in his country for the crime of rape issued against him by an Italian court, before he can appeal the decision.
The court ruled by a majority of nine votes to two in favor of an Italian request that Robinho serve his sentence in his country after his conviction in 2017 for the gang rape of an Albanian woman who was celebrating her twenty-third birthday in a nightclub in Milan in 2013 while defending the Milan shirt.
The conviction was confirmed during an appeal in Italy in 2020, and then became final by the Italian Court of Cassation in 2022. At the beginning of the same year, the public prosecutor in Milan requested the extradition of Robinho, and issued an international arrest warrant against him, knowing that Brazil does not extradite its citizens. .
According to the ruling that convicted him in Italy, the former Brazilian international player (100 matches, 28 goals) and five of his compatriots made the victim drink alcohol “to the point of leaving her unconscious and unable to defend herself, and then they immediately had sexual intercourse with her several times.”
The former player showed “particular contempt towards the victim and brutally humiliated her.”
Robinho, who was briefly arrested in England in 2009 on charges of sexually assaulting a young woman before the charge was dropped after an investigation, claimed in an interview with the Brazilian TV Record network broadcast on Sunday that the sex took place “consensually.”
He added, “I never denied that (the encounter). I could have denied it because my DNA was not there, but I am not a liar.” He also accused the Italian judicial system of “racism.”
Robinho, who began his football career at Santos in 2002, played his last stop with Istanbul Basaksehir in the Turkish League in 2020, before leaving to return to Brazil.
Robinho was a contemporary of Brazil’s golden generation, such as Ronaldo, Rivaldo, and Ronaldinho. In 2005, he moved to Real Madrid to play alongside Frenchman Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, and Englishman David Beckham. He played for City between 2008 and 2010, then Milan for four years until 2014.