Former Brazil and Manchester City winger, Robinho, aged 40, was apprehended in his hometown of Santos on Thursday, March 21, to commence a nine-year prison term for rape.
His real name is Robson De Souza, Robinho was convicted in Italy back in 2017 for his involvement in the gang rape of an Albanian woman at a nightclub in Milan in January 2013.
Alongside five others, he was found guilty of assaulting the victim. Despite maintaining his innocence, Robinho’s appeal against the conviction was dismissed by the Supreme Court in Rome in January 2022, affirming the verdict. On Thursday, his plea to suspend his detention was rejected by a Supreme Court judge.
Having resided in Brazil for the past seven years, Robinho’s arrest follows unsuccessful attempts by the Italian government to extradite him. Consequently, they sought to enforce his sentence in his home country. This request was upheld by a Brazilian court on Wednesday, with nine out of fifteen ministers voting in favor of the decision to detain the footballer in Brazil.
