Robinho, during a friendly match between Brazil and Argentina held in London in 2006, seven years before the rape for which he is convicted.Michael Regan (Action Images)
The sentence against the soccer player Robinho, who played for Milan, Real Madrid and Santos, for gang raping a woman in Milan in 2013 has been confirmed on Wednesday. The judges of the court of cassation in Rome have rejected the appeal of Robson de Souza, professionally known Robinho, 37, and the second defendant, a friend of his named Falco. The Brazilian Constitution prohibits the extradition of its citizens, according to the Brazilian press, which adds that the Italian justice could request that the sentence be served in a Brazilian prison. The player has not attended the hearing - neither has his friend - and according to the newspaper
O'Globo
he is in his homeland.
The judges consider that "the appeal filed by the player was inadmissible and that, therefore, the sentence is final", as explained by the victim's lawyer after the hearing, reports Efe.
The aggressor's defender maintains that he "has been massacred by the media," according
to Folha de S. Paulo
.
The striker won his main titles before committing the crime with a group of fellow countrymen.
He won two confederation cups (2005-2009), one Copa América (2007), two league championships with Real Madrid (2007-2008), one Spanish Super Cup, one Italian Super Cup and he won Serie A with Milan in 2011. Before playing in Europe, he won two Brazilian championships with Santos.
In the years after his rape, he played in China and Turkey.
The woman was 22 years old when she was raped in a Milan nightclub by the striker, who was then playing for the city team, and five friends.
Four of them left Italy during the investigations and, as they were not identified, their case was separated from that of Robinho and Falco.
The victim was a young Albanian who lives in Italy and who on January 22 was in the nightclub celebrating his birthday.
The group got her drunk and abused her, who was unconscious, in the cloakroom, according to the investigation, based on the testimony of the victim and listening to the player and others involved.
The striker has always declared himself innocent, but an audio broadcast in 2020 questioned whether he filled out his version: “I laugh because I don't care.
The woman was completely drunk, she doesn't even know what happened," he said in the recording published by Globoesporte.
That exclusive frustrated the signing of Robinho by Santos, the Brazilian club in which he began his professional career years before.
Protests from members and sponsors frustrated Robinho's return to the club in October 2020.
Both parties annulled the contract they had already signed.
The note released then specified that the player would concentrate on defending himself in the case that was being judged in Italy.
That would have been his fourth spell at the port city club, the same one to which Pelé dedicated his career.
In the nearly five years since 2017, when he was first convicted of this gang rape, the striker has played for Brazilian side Atletico Mineiro and for two teams in Turkey, Sivasspor and Istanbul Basaksehir.
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