The defense team of former soccer player Robinho has submitted a formal plea to Brazil’s Supreme Court in order to prevent his immediate arrest following a recent court ruling that mandated him to serve a nine-year prison sentence for rape in Brazil. In their request, the legal representatives of Robinho, who has played for Santos, Manchester City, Real Madrid, and AC Milan, have sought an injunction to halt the implementation of the top court’s decision on non-constitutional matters, which ordered his immediate incarceration.
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Back in 2017, a Milan court found Robinho and five other Brazilian individuals guilty of gang raping a 22-year-old Albanian woman after intoxicating her at a nightclub in 2013. This conviction was subsequently upheld by an appeals court in 2020 and validated by Italy’s Supreme Court in 2022. The Brazilian court did not reexamine the details of the rape case but rather focused solely on determining the validity of the sentence in Italy and its applicability in Brazil.
Robinho, whose full name is Robson de Souza, remained free throughout the process of ratification and his lawyers emphasized that he has never posed a threat to the enforcement of national laws. Therefore, they argue that his freedom should be maintained until a final ruling is reached on the matter. The defense team further contends that the recent decision contradicts the established legal precedent of the Supreme Court, which dictates that imprisonment should only occur after all possible avenues of appeal have been exhausted. They also assert that forcing the former footballer to serve his sentence in his home country goes against the principles outlined in the Constitution of the Republic.
According to Robinho’s defense, at the time the crime was committed, there was no Brazilian legislation in place regarding the enforcement of sentences issued by foreign countries. They argue that retroactively applying such a law to him would be unjust.
