Former football star, Robinho is close to having to serve his nine-year jail sentence for rape in Brazil.
The ex-footballer was one of a group of six men convicted of sexually assaulting an Albanian woman in a Milan club on January 22 2013 while he was playing for AC Milan.
Robinho’s lawyers said their client had consensual sexual relations at a bar with a young woman, along with five of his friends.
In November 2022, Italian authorities asked Brazilian officials to make the ex-Real Madrid, AC Milan and Manchester City star do his prison time in his homeland after his extradition was ruled out for legal reasons.
But on Tuesday, November 14, public prosecutors in Brazil said the footballer should be jailed there.
The prosecutors told the country’s High Court of Justice it was in line with national legislation and would serve the twin purposes of demonstrating the country’s efforts in combating crime and judicial cooperation.
The former Brazil star was convicted of the crime by Italian authorities in 2017 but couldn’t serve his time in prison there as Brazil doesn’t extradite its citizens sentenced abroad.
Local reports said Brazil’s Public Prosecutor’s Office had indicated in its communication with the High Court of Justice that a failure to heed the Italian request risked allowing Robinho to disregard the law with impunity.
The 39-year-old, whose real name is Robson de Souza, re-signed with boyhood club Santos for a fourth stint in October 2020 but less than a week later his contract was ended by mutual consent.
