Brazil’s soccer star Robinho (40) was arrested at his own home in Santos on Thursday evening. Federal police officers were implementing the decision of the Supreme Court (STJ) made on Wednesday, which stipulates that a nine-year prison sentence handed down in Italy for participation in a gang rape should now be carried out in Brazil.
Shortly before the arrest, an application for a suspension of custody was rejected. However, Robinho’s lawyers announced that they would again request habeas corpus for their client, although the court will probably not decide on this until after Easter.
During his time as a striker at top Italian club AC Milan, Robinho is said to have sexually assaulted a 23-year-old woman with five friends at the end of a birthday party in a disco in January 2013. Since the victim only filed a complaint four months later, it took months of phone tapping of the suspect to get the necessary evidence.
In August 2014, Robinho returned to FC Santos from Italy, and the case only became public a few weeks later. The Brazilian was tried in absentia. Italy’s judiciary has long insisted on extradition.