Robinho, a former Manchester City and Real Madrid footballer, was detained Thursday in Brazil after losing a last-minute court attempt to defer serving his nine-year sentence for r*ping a woman a decade ago.
Robinho’s stay request was denied by Supreme Court Judge Luiz Fux, who decided that “the detention order is maintained… so that he can begin serving his sentence.”
Santos Federal Police executed an arrest warrant on Robson de Souza, according to a statement sent to AFP on Thursday night.
“The prisoner will undergo an examination at the (Medical Legal Institute), a custody hearing and will be sent to the penitentiary system.”
The footballer, also known as “Robinho,” was convicted by an Italian court in 2017 of participating in the gang r*pe of an Albanian woman celebrating her 23rd birthday at a Milan nightclub four years prior.
The former Brazil international, now 40, lost an appeal in 2020 and his conviction was maintained by Italy’s highest court in 2022, prompting Italian authorities to seek an international arrest order for him.
Brazil does not extradite its nationals, so Italy requested that Robinho serve his sentence in his own country instead.
A court in Brasilia agreed Wednesday, nine to two, and on Thursday, court president Maria Thereza de Assis Moura signed a document authorizing the issuance of a warrant for Robinho’s arrest.
Journalists flocked to his opulent condo in Guaruja, near Santos, but his arrest was not captured on video. The Globo network then broadcast a short video of him inside a police station.
A Federal Police officer told reporters that Robinho would be brought to a prison in Tremembe, some 150 kilometers (95 miles) southeast of Sao Paulo, the country’s most populated city.
His lawyers had petitioned the Supreme Court to enable him to remain free while fighting the current court ruling.
That was rejected.
‘Brutally humiliated’
The footballer, who maintains his innocence, told Brazilian network TV Record in an interview broadcast on Sunday that the intercourse was consensual and accused Italy’s justice system of racism.
According to the complaint, Robinho and his co-accused forced the young woman to drink “to the point of rendering her unconscious and unable to resist,” after which they had “sexual relations several times in a row” with her.
In March 2021, a Milan appeals court determined that Robinho acted with “special contempt for the victim, who was brutally humiliated.”
The cases of Robinho and former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain defender Dani Alves have generated criticism of Brazil’s football officials for failing to denounce violence against women.
In February, former Brazil international fullback Alves, 40, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for raping a woman at a Barcelona nightclub.
Palmeiras president Leila Pereira, the first woman to lead the Brazilian club, slammed the football world on Thursday for remaining silent on Robinho and Alves’ r*pe convictions.
“Nobody says anything,” she told Brazil’s UOL news site.
“It’s a slap in the face for all of us women, especially the case of Daniel Alves, who paid for (his) freedom,” Pereira said, referring to a Spanish court decision Wednesday to grant Alves bail of a million euros.
“Each case of impunity is the seed of the next crime,” she added.
Robinho, for his part, will not gain his freedom quickly because Brazil “does not allow bail” for the crime he is accused of, criminal lawyer Leonardo Pantaleao told AFP.
Fall from grace
Robinho has experienced a tremendous fall from grace.
He began his career in 2002 at Santos, a squad made renowned by Brazilian legend Pele, and was hailed as the next generation of Ronaldo, Rivaldo, and Ronaldinho.
In 2005, he joined Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, and David Beckham at Real Madrid.
He went on to play for Manchester City from 2008 to 2010, then Milan for four years till 2014.
In 2009, he was temporarily jailed in England for allegedly sexually assaulting a young woman, but the charges were dismissed following an investigation.
He wanted to return to Santos in 2020, but the club stopped the pact due to criticism from fans and sponsors, bringing his career to an abrupt halt.
Around the same time, TV channel Globo Sports aired extracts from a video that Italian prosecutors used to achieve their conviction, in which Robinho allegedly said: “I’m laughing because I don’t care. The woman was completely inebriated. “She has no idea what happened.”
Robinho has made 100 appearances for Brazil and scored 28 goals.