Robinho, a former football player for Brazil’s national team, was detained in Santos, Brazil, to start serving a nine-year prison sentence for his 2017 sexual assault conviction in Italy.
Robinho, who also played for two years for Manchester City, was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2013 for his part in a group sexual assault event that happened while he was a member of AC Milan. Brazil forbids the extradition of its people, thus Italy asked that he serve out his time in Brazil.
The football player, however, never went to jail since he left the nation before to the final punishment. He also disputes any misconduct.
On Thursday night, Robinho, forty, was arrested at his Santos, California, apartment.
The Italian court’s verdict was upheld by Brazil‘s Superior Court of Justice on Wednesday, voting 9–2.
allowing his conviction in 2017, he had filed an appeal in 2020 which ended up unsuccessful, and in 2022, Italy’s Supreme Court confirmed his sentence.
According to Goal, Robinho, whose full name is Robson de Souza, recently claimed his nine-year prison sentence is a result of racism in Italy.
Robinho reportedly told Record TV: “I was convicted in Italy unjustly for something that did not happen and I have all the evidence to show that. I played four years in Italy and I got tired of seeing stories of racism. Unfortunately, it happens today. That happened in 2013 and today we are in 2024, which leads me to believe that the same people who do nothing against racism are the same ones who they condemned at my trial.
