Former Manchester City striker will be taken to a prison in Tremembe
\n SANTOS
\nFormer Manchester City and Real Madrid footballer Robinho was arrested Thursday in Brazil, after losing a last-minute court bid to delay serving his nine-year sentence for raping a woman a decade ago.
\nSupreme Court Judge Luiz Fux rejected Robinho\u2019s request for a stay and ruled \u201cthe detention order is maintained… so that he can begin serving his sentence.\u201d
\nFederal Police in the southeastern city of Santos said in a statement to AFP on Thursday night that their forces \u201ccarried out an arrest warrant… against Robson de Souza.\u201d
\n\u201cThe prisoner will undergo an examination at the (Medical Legal Institute), a custody hearing and will be sent to the penitentiary system.\u201d
\nPopularly known as \u201cRobinho,\u201d the footballer was found guilty by an Italian court in 2017 of taking part in the gang rape of an Albanian woman celebrating her 23rd birthday at a Milan nightclub four years earlier.
\nThe former Brazil international, now 40, lost an appeal in 2020 and had his sentence upheld by Italy\u2019s highest court in 2022, after which Italian prosecutors issued an international arrest warrant for him.
\nBrazil does not extradite its nationals, however, and Italy asked that Robinho be made to serve his sentence in his home country instead.
\nA court in Brasilia agreed Wednesday, by nine votes to two, and on Thursday court president Maria Thereza de Assis Moura signed a document paving the way for a warrant to be issued for Robinho\u2019s incarceration.
\nJournalists flocked to his luxury condominium in Guaruja, near Santos, but his arrest wasn\u2019t caught on camera. The Globo network later aired a short video showing him inside a police precinct.
\nRobinho will be taken to a prison in Tremembe, about 150 kilometers (95 miles) southeast of Sao Paulo, the nation\u2019s most populous city, a Federal Police officer told journalists.
\nHis lawyers had filed a request to the Supreme Court to allow him to remain free while challenging the latest court decision.
\nThat was rejected.
\nThe footballer, who protests his innocence, told Brazilian network TV Record in an interview broadcast on Sunday that the sex had been consensual and accused the Italian justice system of racism.
\nAccording to the complaint, Robinho and his co-accused had made the young woman drink \u201cto the point of rendering her unconscious and unable to resist,\u201d and then had \u201csexual relations several times in a row\u201d with her.
\nIn March 2021, a Milan appeals court found Robinho had acted with \u201cspecial contempt for the victim, who was brutally humiliated.\u201d
\nRobinho\u2019s case and that of former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain defender Dani Alves have sparked criticism over the failure of football authorities in Brazil to condemn violence against women.
\nIn February, former Brazil international fullback Alves, 40, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for raping a woman in a nightclub in Barcelona.
\nOn Thursday, Palmeiras president Leila Pereira, the first woman at the head of the Brazilian club, lashed out at the football world for its silence on the twin rape convictions of Robinho and Alves.
\n\u201cNobody says anything,\u201d she told Brazil\u2019s UOL news site.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a slap in the face for all of us women, especially the case of Daniel Alves, who paid for (his) freedom,\u201d Pereira said, referring to a Spanish court decision Wednesday to grant Alves bail of a million euros.
\n\u201cEach case of impunity is the seed of the next crime,\u201d she added.
\nRobinho, for his part, will not gain his freedom quickly because Brazil \u201cdoes not allow bail\u201d for the crime he is accused of, criminal lawyer Leonardo Pantaleao told AFP.
\nFor Robinho, it has been a dramatic fall from grace.
\nHaving begun his career in 2002 at Santos, a team made famous by Brazil great Pele, he was touted as the successor to the golden generation of Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho.
\nIn 2005, he joined Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and David Beckham at Real Madrid.
\nHe went on to play for Manchester City from 2008 to 2010, and for Milan for four years until 2014.
\nIn 2009, he was briefly detained in England for an alleged sexual assault of a young woman, but the charges were dropped after an investigation.
\nHe sought to return to Santos in 2020 but the club suspended the deal after pressure from fans and sponsors, leading to the abrupt end of his career.
\nAt about the same time, TV channel Globo Sports had released excerpts of a recording Italian prosecutors used to secure their conviction, in which Robinho purportedly said: \u201cI\u2019m laughing because I don\u2019t care. The woman was completely drunk. She doesn\u2019t even know what happened.\u201d
\nRobinho has 100 Brazil caps and 28 goals for his country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Manchester City striker will be taken to a prison in Tremembe SANTOS Former Manchester City and Real Madrid footballer Robinho was arrested Thursday in Brazil, after losing a last-minute court bid to delay serving his nine-year sentence for raping a woman a decade ago. Supreme Court Judge Luiz Fux rejected Robinho\u2019s request for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395742,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-395721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n