Italy have instructed the former AC Milan and Brazil striker, Robinho to observe a 9-year prison sentence for rape in his country, Brazil.
Via a statement released by the Brazilian foreign relations ministry, the country made it known that they had gotten such a request without naming the player.
Robinho’s lawyers couldn’t be reached on the case
The lawyer defending Robinho couldn’t also be reached for any comment on the matter.
The ministry added that the order and instruction would be extensively evaluated by the Justice Ministry’s Department of Asset Repatriation and International Legal Cooperation.
Robinho, who goes by the name Robson De Souza, resides in Brazil and he has always claimed his innocence of those charges.
Recently, Italy’s Justice Ministry had given out an international arrest warrant for the footballer, after the country’s top court put out the news on his conviction for rape in January.
Does Brazil extradite its citizens?
However, the South American country does not send its citizens for extradition in a foreign land, which would mean Robinho would only face arrest if he traveled outside Brazil.
A Milan based court in 2017 found Robinho and five other Brazilians guilty of collectively raping a woman after infusing her with alcoholic substances in a discotheque.
The sentence was then confirmed by an appeals court in the year 2020 and justified by Italy’s Supreme Court in January, 2023.
Brazilian news agency UOL outlines how Robinho and his friend Ricardo Falco were convicted by courts in Italy for raping a 23-year-old Albanian lady in Milan on the 22nd of January in 2013.
The initial sentence, as earlier stated, came on November 23 in 2017, when the former AC Milan forward was in Brazil.
Robinho on his thoughts before joining Manchester City
The forward played for top football clubs in his career including Real Madrid and AC Milan, many can also remember his popular interview where he mentioned that he only knew one club in Manchester before joining Manchester City.
Robinho said: “I thought I was joining Manchester United. I was mislead by all involved. I wasn’t aware there was another Manchester club.”
He scored one-hundred-and-fifty-five (155) goals across various clubs he featured for in five-hundred-and-twelve (512) games.
Clubs Robinho played for
Robinho De Souza played for clubs namely Santos, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Santos (loan), AC Milan, Santos (loan), Guangzhou Evergrande, Atlético Minero, Sivasspor, Istanbul Basaksehir and Santos in 2020.
He won the La Liga twice with Real Madrid and the Supercopa De España in 2008.
He was born in Sao Vicente in Brazil and he made a century of appearances for the Seleção Canarinha, the senior men’s national team of Brazil.
With Santo FC where he started his career he won the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A twice, additionally he won Copa do Brasil once and the Campeonato Paulista twice.
At AC Milan Robinho won the Serie A and the Supercoppa Italiana once.
During his move to the Chinese Super League he won the league title in 2015.
Back in Brazil Robinho won the Campeonato Minero for Atlético Minero before then traveling over to Turkiye where he won the Turkish Super Lig for Istanbul Basaksehir.
The 39-year-old won the FIFA Confederations Cup and the Copa América.
He won many awards individually including the World Soccer Young Player of the Year in 2005 and he was also included in the South American Team of the Year on three occasions in 2002, 2003, 2004.
Robinho is a player who was hugely talented and skillful at his craft but In addition to that is the bug of the rape cases hanging over his head.
