<p>Robinho, a former football player for Real Madrid and Manchester City, was taken into custody on Thursday in Brazil after his unsuccessful attempt at the last minute to get out of his nine-year sentence for raping a woman eleven years before.</p>
<p><img decoding=”async” class=”alignnone wp-image-537735″ src=”https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/theindiaprint.com-robinho-a-rape-convict-is-arrested-in-brazil-robinho-arrested-in-brazil-2024-03-3f.jpg” alt=”theindiaprint.com robinho a rape convict is arrested in brazil robinho arrested in brazil 2024 03 3f” width=”1059″ height=”794″ title=”Robinho, a Rape Convict, is Arrested in Brazil 6″></p>
<p>Robinho sought a stay of proceedings, but Supreme Court Judge Luiz Fux denied it, ruling that “the detention order is maintained… so that he can begin serving his sentence.”</p>
<p>In a statement to AFP on Thursday night, the Federal Police in the southeast city of Santos said that its personnel “carried out an arrest warrant… against Robson de Souza.”</p>
<p>“The prisoner will be sent to the penitentiary system, undergo an examination at the (Medical Legal Institute), and have a custody hearing.”</p>
<p>The football player, affectionately known as “Robinho,” was found guilty in 2017 by an Italian court of participating in the gang rape of an Albanian lady who was celebrating her 23rd birthday in a Milan nightclub four years before.</p>
<p>The 40-year-old former Brazil international lost his appeal in 2020, and in 2022, Italy’s top court affirmed his sentence. Subsequently, Italian authorities filed an international arrest demand for him.</p>
<p>However, Italy requested that Robinho be forced to serve his sentence in his own country since Brazil does not extradite its citizens.</p>
<p>By a vote of nine to two on Wednesday, a Brasilian court made the decision, and on Thursday, court president Maria Thereza de Assis Moura signed a document authorizing the issuance of an arrest warrant for Robinho.</p>
<p>Subsequently, his attorneys petitioned the Supreme Court for a “habeas corpus” judgment, which would have allowed him to continue living freely while contesting the most recent court verdict. That was turned down.</p>
<p>“Absolutely degraded”<br />
In an interview that aired on Sunday, the football player—who maintains his innocence—told the Brazilian network TV Record that the intercourse had been consensual and charged the Italian legal system with racism.</p>
<p>The young lady was allegedly forced to drink by Robinho and his co-accused “to the point of rendering her unconscious and unable to resist,” after which they engaged in “sexual relations several times in a row” with her.</p>
<p>Robinho was deemed to have behaved with “special contempt for the victim, who was brutally humiliated” by a Milan appeals court in March 2021.</p>
<p>Critics point to Robinho’s case as well as that of former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain defender Dani Alves for the Brazilian football authorities’ unwillingness to denounce violence against women.</p>
<p>Former Brazil international fullback Alves, 40, was found guilty in February of raping a woman at a Barcelona nightclub and received a four-and-a-half year jail term.</p>
<p>Leila Pereira, the first female president of a Brazilian club, took to Twitter on Thursday to criticize the football community for remaining silent over Robinho and Alves’ dual rape convictions.</p>
<p>“Nobody says anything,” she said to the Brazilian news outlet UOL.</p>
<p>Referring to a Spanish court’s decision on Wednesday to award Daniel Alves a million-euro bail, Pereira said, “It’s a slap in the face for all of us women, especially the case of Daniel Alves, who paid for (his) freedom.”</p>
<p>She went on, “Every instance of impunity is the seed of the next crime.”</p>
<p>On Thursday, the father of another prominent Brazilian football player, Neymar, refuted rumors that Alves’ bail would be covered by the family.</p>
<p>Drop Out of Grace<br />
Robinho’s decline has been rather noticeable. He started his career in 2002 with Santos, a side that Brazilian legend Pele helped make famous. He was hailed as the next great generation of Ronaldo, Rivaldo, and Ronaldinho.</p>
<p>He joined David Beckham, Ronaldo, and Zinedine Zidane at Real Madrid in 2005.</p>
<p>After that, he played for Milan for four years until 2014 and Manchester City from 2008 to 2010.</p>
<p>He was temporarily arrested in England in 2009 on suspicion of sexually assaulting a young lady, but the accusations were later dismissed after an inquiry.</p>
<p>His career ended abruptly when the club blocked his attempt to return to Santos in 2020 due to pressure from sponsors and supporters.</p>
<p>Robinho is said to have remarked, “I’m laughing because I don’t care,” in a tape that Italian prosecutors used to get their conviction, which was excerpted and made public around the same time by TV station Globo Sports. She was utterly inebriated. She is completely unaware of what transpired.</p>
<p>Robinho has scored 28 goals for his nation, Brazil, in his 100 appearances.</p>
Robinho, a Rape Convict, is Arrested in Brazil
