Former Manchester City and Real Madrid forward Robinho has been arrested in Brazil to begin serving a nine-year prison sentence for rape.
An Italian court found the 40-year-old guilty, alongside five other Brazilians, of a group sexual assault of a woman back in 2013 while he was at AC Milan.
A hearing of judges at Brazil’s superior court of justice ruled on Wednesday that the decision made in Italy was also valid in the South American country.
Brazil does not extradite its nationals leading Italy to seek for him to serve his sentence in his home country.
“There’s no obstacle to validate the execution of his sentence,” judge Francisco Falco said.
“It was confirmed by a court in Milan, which is the competent authority in this case. The conviction is final. The defendant was not put on trial in absence in Italy, he had representation.”
Local media reported that Robinho was taken from his Santos home on Thursday to spend his first few hours in custody after being denied a habeas corpus request to remain free pending appeals.
He is expected to subsequently be transferred to an as yet unspecified penitentiary.
Robinho has always denied any wrongdoing and once again maintained his innocence in an interview broadcast by local television on Sunday.
“I was unfairly convicted in Italy for something that did not occur,” he said.
Robinho, who retired in 2020, made over 600 club appearances for clubs including Real Madrid, Manchester City and Milan.
He also scored 28 goals in 100 appearances for the Brazil national team.
(Luis Acosta/AFP via Getty Images)
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