Brazilian justice decides whether Robinho goes to prison

The former Brazilian attacker Robinho This Wednesday, he awaits a high court in Brazil to decide whether he must pay in his country a nine-year prison sentence imposed in Italy for gang rape, in a case that could set a “precedent” in the Latin American giant.

Fifteen judges of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) will examine the request of the Italian courts for the sentence, ultimately ratified in 2022, to be carried out in Brazil, a country that does not extradite its citizens.

For the homologation request to be accepted, which may occur this Wednesday, the vote in favor of half plus one of the judges present is needed, the STJ explained in a statement. The decision can be postponed if anyone requests more time to analyze the case.

Robson de Souza, known as Robinho, 40, currently resides in Santos (southeast), according to local media, and is not expected to appear at the court headquarters in Brasilia.

The former Seleção and Real Madrid footballer would surely not be detained immediately even if the vote was favorable because he still has resources left in the STJ. Furthermore, he could ultimately appeal to the supreme court.

He is free despite being convicted of gang raping a young Albanian woman who was celebrating her 23rd birthday at a Milan nightclub in 2013.

At the time of the events, in which five other Brazilians participated, including his friend Ricardo Falco, also convicted and requested for extradition by Italy, he played for AC Milan.

According to the complaint, the group made the victim drink “to the point of rendering him unconscious and unable to resist.” Afterwards they had “sexual relations several times in a row” with her.

The former attacker was sentenced in the first instance in 2017 and definitively in 2022, when he was already living in Brazil.

Robinho defends his innocence and alleges that the events were consensual. In an interview broadcast Sunday, he attributed the sentence to “racism.”

“I hope that here in Brazil I can have the voice that I didn’t have there,” he told the Brazilian channel Record.

The STJ, however, will only analyze whether the Italian application meets the legal requirements, without going into the substance of the matter or judging it again. According to the media, the trend is for the request to be approved.

Because the Latin American giant prohibits the extradition of its citizens in its Constitution, Italy requested in February 2023 the execution of the sentence, taking advantage of a Brazilian law that has allowed it since 2017.

The eventual homologation “is a paradigmatic matter. It should set a great precedent for other criminals to begin serving their sentences in Brazil,” said criminal lawyer Rafael Paiva in a note.

In the middle of the process, Robinho had to hand over his passport. Italy issued an international arrest warrant against him, for which he would be detained if he leaves his country, regardless of the decision of the STJ, according to experts.

Called to become a superstar, Robinho showed a precocious talent that took him to several big teams in Europe, but which he was unable to consolidate.

In 2009 he was briefly arrested in England, while defending Manchester City, for an alleged sexual assault against a young woman, although he was freed from charges after the investigation.

His career came to an abrupt end after his return in 2020 to Santos de Sao Paulo, where he made his professional debut in 2002.

The media, sponsors and fans pressured for his contract with ‘Peixe’, the club that Pelé made famous, to be terminated without him having made his debut.

Another Brazilian star, full-back Dani Alves, was sentenced in February to four and a half years in prison for raping a young woman in a Barcelona nightclub at the end of 2022. This Tuesday, he asked for his freedom while waiting for his sentence to be final. and assured that he would not flee.