Nine years in prison for raping Albanian, former football player Robinho arrested in Brazil

The former Brazilian National football player Robinho has been arrested to serve a nine-year prison sentence for rape.

He was sentenced in Italy for gang rape of a 22-year-old Albanian at a nightclub in Milan in 2013.
The 40-year-old Robinho was arrested in his apartment in his hometown of Santos.

The Italian government had demanded that he suffer his sentence in Brazil after failing to extradite him.
On Wednesday, a court in Brazil handed down the verdict and also decided that he should serve the sentence behind bars instead of house arrest.

On Thursday, a Supreme Court judge rejected a request to prevent his detention.
The decisive action taken by the Brazilian justice system has been praised amid fears that Robinho would evade justice thanks to his fame and wealth.

The former Brazilian footballer, who has 100 presentations for his country, played for AC Milan on the course when rape took place in the Albanian group. After being convicted, he lost an appeal in 2020 before Italy's highest court leaves his sentence in 2022.
Italian prosecutors later issued an international warrant for his arrest.

The footballer, who spent two years with Manchester City, told a Brazilian media on Sunday that sex was “consensual”.