Former Manchester City, Real Madrid and Milan star, Brazilian Robinho, faces a 9-year prison sentence after being convicted of gang rape in Italy in 2017, following a historic ruling by the Brazilian Supreme Court.
It was reported that the former Brazilian international will serve his sentence for gang rape in his home country after his conviction in Italy in 2017.
The Brazilian Supreme Court announced the historic ruling yesterday, Wednesday, after the Italian authorities requested the extradition of the 40-year-old man in 2022.
The former Premier League player, whose real name is Robson De Souza, was one of six men convicted of assaulting an Albanian woman in an Italian nightclub in January 2013.
CONFIRMED❗
Former Brazilian forward Robinho will serve a nine-year prison sentence, a court in Brazil ruled.
MORE: https://t.co/HxuIuPuUlT pic.twitter.com/wVcOKHzSpk
— Soccer Laduma (@Soccer_Laduma) March 21, 2024
In January 2022, the Supreme Court in Rome rejected his final appeal against the conviction.
Robinho, who has lived in Brazil for 7 years, claims he is innocent.
This came after 9 of the 15 court judges voted in favor of the decision to imprison the Brazilian player.
It was reported that his legal representatives will “appeal to the Federal Supreme Court.”
In 2017, a Milan court convicted Robinho and five other Brazilians of raping a woman in 2013 under the influence of alcohol in a nightclub.
The Brazilian newspaper Globo indicated that the former football player, who spent years in Milan and Real Madrid, would be arrested in Santos, where he currently resides.
The Brazilian constitution does not normally allow the extradition of domestic criminals, and he could have faced arrest if he traveled outside Brazil.
Robinho – who was 28 years old when he played for Milan – admitted during his appeal that he had a “previous acquaintance with the woman.”
The Milan Court of Appeal found that Robinho had “belittled” and brutally insulted the victim, upholding his original sentence in December 2020.
Robinho is going to prìson. pic.twitter.com/LYPLI5vSHB
— RUTH 🇨🇦 (@rutie_xx) March 21, 2024
The striker moved to Santos in 2020, but was forced to terminate the contract amid strong protests over his signing, with one of the main sponsors withdrawing its support for the football club.
Robinho played 137 matches with Real Madrid, 53 with Manchester City, and 144 with Milan during his football career, and he also participated in 100 matches with the Brazilian national team.