Italy asks Brazil to extradite Robinho, convicted of rape

Ultimately sentenced to nine years in prison for gang rape in Italy, former soccer player Robinho had his extradition officially requested by the Italian government from Brazil on Tuesday (4).

The measure, however, should have little practical effect, as Brazil does not extradite its citizens. There was already an international arrest warrant in force against him, which can only get complicated if he leaves the country. Serving the sentence in Brazil is also an unlikely situation.

Robinho, who has been in Brazil since 2020, drew attention last Friday (30) when he posted a photo wearing the Brazilian team shirt and making the number 22 with his hands. In the caption, he wrote only “22”, making it clear his support for President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in Sunday’s election (2). It was the former player’s first post this year.

The extradition request had already been made by the Milan Public Ministry eight months ago, but only now has the Italian Ministry of Justice forwarded the document to the Brazilian government, according to Italian news agency Ansa.

Robinho was sentenced to nine years in prison for having participated in the gang rape of an Albanian young woman in a Milan nightclub in 2013. In January of this year, the Italian Supreme Court upheld the conviction, and there is no further possibility of appeal.

During the process, the defense said that the former athlete is innocent. Robinho’s lawyers maintained that there was no evidence that the relationship with the victim was not consensual. They also stated that the process contains flaws and the player was “massacred by the media”.

Little chance of arrest in Brazil

According to what is established in Brazilian law, a request for the arrest of a Brazilian for a crime committed abroad is received by the STJ (Superior Court of Justice), which analyzes compliance with certain requirements, such as regular service of process, res judicata and similarity in the laws. –that is, if what is a crime in the other country is also a crime in Brazil.

Where the transfer of the sentence may come up against is an excerpt from the agreement on judicial cooperation between Brazil and Italy, signed in 1989 and modified in 1993. The agreement between the countries explicitly establishes that “the cooperation will not include the execution of measures that restrict personal freedom nor the execution of sentences”.

If the STJ understands that the sentence should not be ratified, the process can be reopened from scratch in Brazil. Then the case will be referred to the lower court, where all the evidence will be re-examined and there will be ample space for defense again.

The crime

The case took place in the early hours of January 22, 2013, in a nightclub in Milan.

According to an investigation by the Public Ministry, Robinho and five other Brazilians practiced group sexual violence against the victim, who was drunk by them and unconsciously taken to the establishment’s dressing room, where she was raped several times. Because they left Italy during the investigation, the other four men could not be notified, and their case was dismembered from the proceedings.

The indictment was based on the victim’s testimony and on intercepted telephone conversations with the authorization of the Italian justice, included as evidence in the process. In November 2017, Robinho and his friend Ricardo Falco were convicted in the first instance, in Milan, of gang rape, according to articles 609 bis and 609 octies of the Italian penal code, which determine imprisonment from 8 to 14 years. At the time, Robinho played for Atlético-MG.

Defense lawyers appealed, and a new trial was held in December 2020, when the sentence was upheld by the second instance.

Shortly before, in October 2020, Globoesporte.com revealed the content of the wiretapping. In them, Robinho and friends make it clear that they knew the victim was unconscious. In one of the most explicit lines, the attacker says: “I’m laughing because I don’t care, the woman was completely drunk, she doesn’t even know what happened”.

The disclosure caused the suspension of an agreement between Robinho and Santos, which had announced him as part of the club until February 2021.

In January 2022, the conviction was confirmed in the third and final instance of the Italian Justice.