Ronaldinho was denied house arrest: so he spends his days in jail

03/09/2020 - 17:23

• Clarín.com
• sports

In the last hours, the first photo of Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, better known as Ronaldinho, was imprisoned in prison. Dressed with flip flops, shorts and a muscular sweatshirt, the former Brazilian soccer player exhibited his characteristic and indelible smile. His stay in jail is enjoyable, far from resembling what some fiction series like "the Marginal" show. However, the judicial process is getting more and more complicated and his football idol plate seems to have no weight in Paraguay.

The former player of Barcelona and Paris Saint-Garmain, among other world-renowned clubs, and his brother Roberto have been at the Asunción Specialized Association since Friday, a building destined for the military and police, but that before the saturation of the prison system It is also used for "VIP prisoners". They are not behind bars, but in an office that was set up to simulate a cell. There, they have the basic amenities and even more: bed, television, refrigerator and fan.

Media in the Guarani country revealed curious details of his life in prison. On Saturday morning, the brothers refused to eat the mate cooked with milk and the cookies they offered because the menu was not to their liking. Hunger is not yet a problem: the night before, they had eaten the hamburgers brought by their lawyers, with whom they maintain permanent contact. In addition, the Brazilian star received on Sunday a group of 50 fans who came to meet his idol and give him his support.

Photo of Ronaldinho in prison. 🥺❤️ pic.twitter.com/3BzmuEncIB

For his part, lawyer Sergio Queiroz complained that Ronaldinho, his client, "is illegally detained and that abuse has been committed against him." He added: "He did not commit any crime because he did not know that the passport they gave him was adulterated." At the moment, its objective is to obtain the house prison, which was already denied by Judge Clara Ruíz Díaz, who argued that there is "danger of escape and obstruction."

The innocence of the brothers was sustained mainly by the version of the prosecutor Federico Delfino, who had ensured that the request of Paraguayan naturalization of the brothers had entered the General Directorate of Migration. But the secretary of the Civil Chamber of the Court said that "there is no request, no procedure and no resolution has been issued."

Even on social networks circulated edited images that evidenced that Ronaldinho had begun the management for Paraguayan naturalization. Some time later, it was proven that they were false.

As if that were not enough, a network of evasion and corruption splashes the case of the former partner of Lionel Messi in Barcelona. "There are indications that other crimes have been committed," said Osmar Legal, the new prosecutor in charge.

The framework is complex: Ronaldinho promoted his arrival in Paraguay through the Angelic Fraternity Foundation, by the Paraguayan businesswoman Dalia López Troche, who is being investigated for "tax evasion of 10 million dollars and money laundering for half a year as President of Permanent Oriental Holding SA ", according to the Spanish newspaper El País.

In turn, the company's vice president is Dalia's husband, Luis Alberto Gauto, who received the Brazilian at the airport along with Brazilian businessman Wilmondes Sousa Lira. Fairly, Lira is accused of being the one who delivered the false documentation to the brothers.

Meanwhile, a gray area is maintained as regards the root of the scandal: Why didn't Ronaldinho use his Brazilian documents, if they were enough to enter Paraguay, since it is part of Mercosur? Simply because I didn't have. It is that in 2018, the brothers were convicted by the justice of Brazil for participating in a construction in protected areas of Lake Guaíba, in Porto Alegre.

In that sense, the former soccer player would have obtained an apocryphal passport to evade Brazilian justice and be able to cross the border. However, the legal prosecutor contributed a different hypothesis: "Paraguayan documentation could have the advantage of participating in business in some companies in the country."

Meanwhile, Ronaldinho could spend six months in pretrial detention. In that sense, Judge Clara Ruíz Díaz said that the maximum duration of an investigation process is half a year, although she clarified that this time could decrease thanks to the allegations of the brothers' defense.