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21st March 2024
07:41am GMT
Former Man City and Brazil player Robinho will reportedly serve a nine-year prison sentence in his home country.
In 2017, Robinho, along with five other Brazilians, was found guilty in Italy of the gang rape of a 22-year-old girl in a Milan night-club back in January 2013 and sentenced to nine years in prison.
Italian authorities had asked to extradite the 40-year-old in January 2022 so that he could serve the sentence in the country where he committed the crime.
But Brazil does not permit the extradition of their citizens though, so this was never granted, meaning that Robinho has been able to live in Brazil for the last seven years without being arrested.
He could have been arrested if he travelled to any countries the Italian government does have extradition agreements with.
But Brazil's Superior Court of Justice has now voted overwhelmingly in favour of Robinho being able to serve his prison sentence in his homeland, following a request from Italy.
Globo reports that the court decided by 9 votes to 2 that he must serve the sentence in Brazil. It also decided that he should serve an immediate sentence.
The outlet says the former footballer will be arrested in Santos, where he currently lives.
However, his lawyers said he will remain free pending a possible appeal, the BBC reports.
Robinho has always protested his innocence. During an appeal against the conviction, Robinho confessed that he did have “contact” with the woman and insisted that it was consensual.
However the Milan Court of Appeals found he had “belittled” and “brutally humiliated” the victim, and the initial sentence was upheld during a hearing in December 2020.
In January 2022, the Italian Supreme Court dismissed Robinho’s final appeal against conviction.
Evidence which was shown to convict the former AC Milan forward included messages that had been intercepted, phone calls and messages between the footballer and the others who were alleged to have been involved in the attack.
One of the messages showed the 38-year-old saying: “It makes me laugh because I’m not interested, the woman was drunk, she doesn’t even know what happened.”
Robinho won two La Liga titles at Real Madrid before he moved to Manchester City for a then-British record fee of £32.5m on transfer deadline day in September 2008.
After just two seasons in Manchester, he moved to AC Milan, where he spent five years. It was during this time that he committed the crime.
The Brazilian then had spells in China and Brazil.
He also made 100 appearances for his country at international level.
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