Former soccer star Robinho began serving a nine-year jail sentence in his native Brazil on Thursday greater than 10 years after he was first accused of raping a lady in Italy.
The 40-year-old Robinho left his house constructing within the beachfront metropolis of Santos, outdoors Sao Paulo, in a black police automobile after dropping a bid to stay free pending appeals.
A Brazilian excessive court docket dominated Wednesday that Robinho should serve his sentence in his dwelling nation on account of his 2017 rape conviction in Italy.
Judges on Brazil‘s Superior Court docket of Justice within the capital metropolis of Brasilia voted 9-2 to validate the conviction of the previous Actual Madrid, Manchester Metropolis and AC Milan ahead.
Robinho was sentenced in Italy to 9 years in jail for his half in a bunch sexual assault in 2013 when he performed for AC Milan.
Earlier on Thursday, Supreme Court docket Justice Luiz Fux denied a habeas corpus request that will have allowed the previous participant to stay free pending appeals. His legal professionals desire a new trial in Brazil on the grounds of nationwide sovereignty.
As Brazilian legislation requires, Robinho is predicted to spend his first hours in custody at a listening to with a decide to debate doable illegalities within the proceedings that led to his arrest.
Robinho will then be taken to a penitentiary, which authorities have but to reveal.
Brazil does not extradite nationals, which led Italy to hunt his imprisonment in his dwelling nation.
“Brazil can’t be a shelter for criminals,” decide Mauro Campbell Marques stated throughout his vote on Wednesday.
Robinho relinquished his passport to Brazilian authorities in March 2023. He continues to disclaim any wrongdoing and insists his sexual relations with the lady at a Milan bar have been consensual.
The previous footballer stated in an interview with TV File aired on Sunday that racism was guilty for his conviction in Italy.
“I performed solely 4 years in Italy and I received uninterested in seeing tales of racism. Sadly that exists to today. [The rape case] was in 2013, now we’re in 2024. The identical individuals who do not do something towards it [racism] are those who sentenced me,” Robinho stated.
Robinho rose to nationwide fame in 2002 as a 18-year-old who led Santos to its first nationwide title because the Pelé period. He did it once more two years later. He gained the Confederations Cup with Brazil and left for Actual Madrid, the place he wasn’t as profitable. The Brazilian joined Manchester Metropolis in 2008 and one 12 months later was accused of rape throughout an evening out in Leeds. Police didn’t file fees.
Robinho returned to Santos in 2010 to be a mentor to a younger Neymar. He gained the Brazilian Cup as a reference for the promising teenager and earned a spot in Brazil’s beginning eleven for the 2010 World Cup. His crew was knocked out within the quarterfinals by the Netherlands.
The Brazilian joined AC Milan after the World Cup and gained the Serie A title that 12 months. Following the rape case, he rejoined Santos together with stints in China and Turkey.