Robinho, the Brazilian footballer, has been arrested in Brazil to serve a nine-year prison sentence for rape.

Former football player Robinho (40) was taken into custody by Brazilian federal police on Thursday to begin serving a nine-year prison sentence for rape following a recent court decision authorizing the transfer of the sentence from Italy.

According to a statement from the police, Robinho will undergo a medical examination and a custody hearing before being transferred to prison.

In 2017, a Milan court found Robinho and five other Brazilians guilty of gang raping a 22-year-old Albanian woman after allegedly intoxicating her in a nightclub back in 2013. The conviction was upheld by an appeals court in 2020 and further validated by Italy’s Supreme Court in 2022.

On Wednesday, Brazil’s top court for non-constitutional matters upheld Robinho’s rape conviction, ruling that he must serve his nine-year prison sentence in Brazil.

The Brazilian court did not reopen discussions about the rape conviction but focused solely on the validity of the sentence in Italy being recognized in Brazil.

Robinho, born Robson de Souza, currently resides in Brazil and has consistently denied the charges against him.

Robinho has previously played for renowned clubs such as Santos, Real Madrid, Manchester City, and AC Milan, as well as for Brazil’s national team.

With few exceptions, Brazil does not extradite its citizens. Therefore, Italy requested last year that Robinho serve his prison sentence in his home country.

The arrest came after Judge Luiz Fux rejected an appeal earlier on Thursday by Robinho’s legal team, upholding the decision for his immediate arrest, as indicated in a legal document.

In a televised interview on Sunday, Robinho maintained his innocence, stating that he was “unfairly convicted in Italy for something that did not occur.”

Source: ghmediahub