Former Manchester City and Brazilian National Team Star Robinho has been arrested in Brazil after losing a last-minute court bid to delay serving his nine-year sentence for raping a woman 10-years ago.
“the detention order is maintained… so that he can begin serving his sentence” was the ruling from Supreme Court Judge Luiz Fux who rejected Robinho’s request for a stay.
In a statement to AFP on Thursday night, Federal Police in Santos said that their 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.”
In 2017, the footballer was found guilty of taking part in the gang rape of an Albanian woman celebrating her 23rd birthday at a Milan nightclub four years earlier.
He lost an appeal in 2020 and had his sentence upheld by Italy’s highest court in 2022, after which Italian prosecutors issued an international arrest warrant for him.
However, Brazil does not extradite its nationals, and Italy has asked that Robinho be made to serve his sentence in his home country instead.
A court in Brasilia agreed Wednesday, by nine votes to two, and on Thursday court president Maria Thereza de Assis Moura appended a document which paved the way for a warrant to be issued for Robinho’s incarceration.
Robinho will be taken to a prison in Tremembe, about 150 kilometers (95 miles) southeast of Sao Paulo, according to a Federal Police officer.