Robinho, a rape offender, begs to avoid jail term in Brazil

Attorneys for Robinho, a former football player for Real Madrid and Manchester City who is currently serving a nine-year jail sentence in Brazil for rape, announced on Thursday that they have filed an appeal with the Supreme Court.

Robinho, 40, was condemned in an Italian court for his involvement in the 2013 gang rape of a woman at a Milan nightclub while he was an AC Milan player. On Wednesday, the Italian court ordered Robinho to start his jail term “immediately” in Brazil.

Robinho’s legal team asked the Supreme Court to delay the ruling on his sentence, which was rendered by Brazil’s top appeals court, on Thursday so they could contest the validity of Robinho’s upcoming incarceration.

Robinho was found guilty of rape in 2017 by an Italian court; he lost an appeal in 2020; but, in 2022, Italy’s highest court confirmed his nine-year prison sentence once more.

Italian authorities obtained an international arrest warrant for him; however, Italy requested that he serve his sentence in his country of origin because Brazil does not extradite its citizens.

By a decision of nine to two on Wednesday, judges in a Brasilia court granted Italy’s plea, directing Robinho to start serving his nine-year prison sentence “immediately.”

The case represents the football player’s dramatic decline in popularity. He has played 100 caps for Brazil and scored 28 goals.

At Real Madrid, he played with superstars like Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham before moving on to Manchester City.

He was temporarily arrested in England in 2009 on suspicion of sexually assaulting a young woman, but the accusations were later dismissed following an investigation.

In 2020, he tried to rejoin his boyhood team, Santos, but the club canceled the agreement under pressure from sponsors and supporters because of his conviction for rape.