SAO PAULO (AP) — Former soccer star Robinho turned himself in Thursday to start serving a nine-year prison sentence in his native Brazil more than 10 years after he was first accused of raping a woman in Italy.
The 40-year-old Robinho left his apartment building in the beachfront city of Santos, outside Sao Paulo, in a black police car.
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As Brazilian law requires, he is expected to spend his first hours in custody at a hearing with a judge to discuss possible illegalities in the proceedings that led to his arrest.
Robinho will then be taken to a penitentiary, which authorities have yet to disclose.
Robinho will soon begin serving nine years in prison for the rape of a woman in Italy more than 10 years ago.
Earlier on Thursday, Supreme Court Justice Luiz Fux denied Robinho a habeas corpus that would have allowed him to remain free until he has no longer pending appeals. His lawyers want a new trial for the former footballer in Brazil on the grounds of national sovereignty.
A Brazilian high court ruled Wednesday that Robinho must serve his sentence in his home nation as a result of his 2017 rape conviction in Italy.
Judges on Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice in the capital city of Brasilia voted 9-2 to validate the conviction of the former Real Madrid, Manchester City and AC Milan striker.
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Robinho was sentenced in Italy to nine years in prison for his part in a group sexual assault in 2013 when he played for AC Milan.
Brazil doesn’t extradite nationals, which led Italy to seek his imprisonment in his home nation.
(this story has not been edited by TSA Mag staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
