Robinho has been taken into custody to start a nine-year prison term following his conviction for participating in a gang rape incident.
Warning: This article contains information about sexual and physical harm
The incident took place in 2013 at a Milan nightclub involving an Albanian woman.
The 40-year-old football icon was apprehended at his residence in his hometown of Santos.
This development comes after the Italian authorities’ unsuccessful attempt to extradite him, leading to a request for Robinho to serve his sentence in Brazil. A Brazilian court recently affirmed this request and further decreed that Robinho’s sentence be served in prison rather than under house arrest, a decision upheld by a Supreme Court judge in Brazil who dismissed a last-minute appeal against his detention.
There had been concerns that Robinho might avoid punishment due to his celebrity status and wealth. Robinho, who earned 100 international caps for Brazil and was an AC Milan player at the time of the offence, had previously lost an appeal in 2020, with Italy’s highest court confirming the sentence in 2022, prompting Italian prosecutors to issue an international arrest warrant.
In a recent interview before his arrest, Robinho claimed the sexual encounter was consensual. However, his attempts to challenge the conviction have been unsuccessful, leading to the start of his sentence in Brazil.
In addition to his international and AC Milan career, Robinho had professional stints with football heavyweights Manchester City and Real Madrid.
