Brasilia, Mar 20 (EFE).- Brazil’s High Court on Wednesday ordered former soccer player Robson de Souza, known as ‘Robinho,’ to serve in a Brazilian prison the nine-year sentence for rape imposed on him in Italy in 2017.
The court decided by a majority of nine votes in favor and two against to approve the Italian conviction and ordered that the sentence be served immediately in prison.
This means that Robinho will have to go to prison before he can even appeal the decision.
The national team player was convicted by an Italian court in 2017 to nine years in prison by the Italian judiciary for his participation in a gang rape in Milan in 2013, but he never served the sentence because he returned to Brazil, a country that prohibits the extradition of its nationals.
Robinho began his professional career as a striker for Santos FC of the state of São Paulo, the team of the legendary Pele, and went on to play for Real Madrid, Manchester City, and AC Milan. While playing for the latter team, he was involved in the gang rape of a young Albanian girl in a Milan discotheque.
The Brazilian rapporteur, Francisco Falcão, stated that a rejection of Italy’s request to imprison the player would constitute a new offense against the dignity of the victim, since “the criminal will remain totally unpunished, because Brazil is not able to prosecute the same act twice.”
Falcão also said that a rejection of the petition could lead to a diplomatic crisis, since Brazil would be failing to meet its cooperation obligations, as well as a new discrediting episode for the Brazilian judiciary, whose lack of effectiveness in punishing criminals has been condemned several times by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
The judge explained in his vote that it is not up to the Brazilian judiciary to review the sentence handed down by the Italian court or to open a new trial, but only to verify that all the requirements are met to accept Italy’s request that the former soccer player serve his sentence in Brazil.
“The law prevents us from reviewing the merits of the sentence. We only have to determine whether the requirements for the transfer of the execution of the sentence are met,” he said.
In this sense, he confirmed that all the requirements had been met since the convicted person was present in Brazil, his sentence was final, and the act that led to the conviction was also a crime in Brazil. EFE
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