Former Real Madrid and Manchester City striker Robinho has been arrested in Brazil’s Santos after losing a last-minute court appeal to avoid sentence. Robinho, during his time at the Italian football club AC Milan, was found guilty of a rape charge and was sentenced to nine years. However, the player was never arrested as the incident happened in 2013 and avoided trials and travelling to Italy and other countries.

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Robinho arrested

On the evening of Thursday (Mar 21) evening, Robinho was arrested from his home in Santos after his appeal was turned down by the court. Earlier on Wednesday, judges on Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice voted 9-2 to validate the conviction of the former Real Madrid man. One of the reasons stated for his conviction was the possible friction that could arise in the diplomatic relations between Brazil and Italy. Brazil doesn’t extradite nationals, which led Italy to seek his imprisonment in his home nation.

Supreme Court Judge Luiz Fux rejected Robinho’s request for a stay and ruled “the detention order is maintained… so that he can begin serving his sentence.”

Federal Police in the southeastern city of Santos said in a statement to AFP on Thursday night that its forces “carried out an arrest warrant … against Robson de Souza.”

“The prisoner will undergo an examination at the (Medical Legal Institute), a custody hearing and will be sent to the penitentiary system.”

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What was the incident?

In 2013, Robinho was at a nightclub in Milan where an Albanian woman was celebrating her 23rd birthday. The then-AC Milan striker along with a few other fellow players was alleged to have gang raped the Albanian girl. The incident did not go unnoticed despite Robinho soon leaving AC Milan. In 2017, an Italian court found the striker guilty because he did not cooperate with the trials in Italy.

The former Brazil international, now 40, lost an appeal in 2020 and then had his sentence upheld by Italy’s highest court in 2022, after which Italian prosecutors issued an international arrest warrant for him.

Since Brazil does not extradite its nationals, a diplomatic agreement was reached where Italian authorities asked the Brazilian judiciary system to make Robinho serve his nine-year sentence in his homeland.

His lawyers then filed a request to the Supreme Court for a “habeas corpus” ruling allowing him to remain a free man while challenging the latest court decision.

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