FORMER Man City ace Robinho is fighting to get his gang rape conviction downgraded and slash his prison time in jail in half.
The ex-Brazil international has served less than two months of his nine-year sentence for gang rape in the hellhole maximum security Tremembe Prison, near Sao Paulo.
The Brazilian, who has an estimated £60million net worth, was jailed after he was convicted of sexually assaulting an Albanian woman in a club in 2013, alongside five other men.
He started serving his sentence in March, sharing a tiny 8m squared cell with some of Brazil’s most notorious murderers and rapists.
But his lawyer is already trying to get him out of the hellhole jail in less than two years by arguing the gang rape he was convicted over should not have been categorised as “heinous.”
Mario Rossi Vale is arguing it should have been given a “standard” categorisation instead under Brazilian law.
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He’s arguing the footballer’s conviction should never have automatically been labelled “heinous”, increasing the amount of time he has to do in a “closed prison regime” when Brazilian judges facilitated his imprisonment there.
If his appeal is accepted, Robinho could be made to do just one year and eight months instead of three years and seven months in a maximum-security prison before being allowed to benefit from a semi-open regime which could enable him to work or study outside jail during the day.
The former AC Milan, Real Madrid and Manchester City striker was transferred to the maximum security prison in Tremembé after Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled he must do his time in his homeland as a result of his 2017 rape conviction in Italy.
Italy issued an international arrest warrant for Robinho, but the former Premier League star managed to dodge jail for seven years while living in Sao Paulo.
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Brazil’s High Court of Justice ended up accepting Italy’s request to make him serve his time in his homeland in March and the married dad-of-two was arrested hours after the decision.
He was taken from his seafront luxury home in Santos to a hellish Brazilian prison where he plays ball with inmates.
Tremembé is notorious for housing high-level criminals including child killers, murderers and other rapists.
The cell is said to have only one single bed, a small sink and a toilet built into the floor.
While in the cell all activities are isolated and he will be given four meals each day – the first being at 6am and the last at 5.30pm.
But the convicted rapist has now been allowed to participate in physical activities with other prisoners, having already taken part in a football match.
Timeline of Robinho’s rape case
The rape case involving Brazilian footballer Robinho spans several years. Here’s a brief timeline:
- January 22, 2013: Robinho was one of a group of six men convicted of sexually assaulting an Albanian woman in a club during his stint for AC Milan.
- 2014: Brazilian media reported on the allegations against Robinho, but no formal charges were filed at that time.
- 2017: Robinho was found guilty of sexual assault by an Italian court and sentenced to nine years in prison. However, he denied the charges and appealed the verdict.
- 2020: After the appeal process, Robinho’s sentence was upheld by the Italian court. But due to the statute of limitations in Italy, he was not extradited to serve his sentence.
- 2022: Robinho’s prison sentence is ratified.
- March 2023: Robinho surrendered his passport to authorities
- November 2023: Italian prosecutors said they felt Robinho should serve his time in Brazil.
- March 20, 2024: Brazil’s Superior Court formed a simple majority and voted for Robinho to serve the sentence in his home country
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
