Rapporteur at the STJ votes for Robinho to serve time for rape in Brazil – 03/20/2024 – Sports

Minister Francisco Falcão, rapporteur at the STJ (Superior Court of Justice), voted this Wednesday (20) to validate the Italian sentence that sentenced former player Robson de Souza, known as Robinho, to prison for the crime of gang rape, initially closed.

The court does not analyze whether or not Robinho committed the crime, but only whether he must serve in Brazil the sentence he was sentenced to in Italy. The other ministers of the STJ Special Court, which is made up of the court’s oldest members, will still vote.

The former athlete, who is 40 years old, was sentenced by Italian authorities to nine years in prison. His first conviction was in 2017 and he appealed and had his attempts exhausted in 2022, with a final judgment.

The minister said that Robinho “was not tried in absentia in Italy”, he was represented in the European country by a lawyer and that the Milan Court is responsible for judging the case.

He also stated that the facts that led to Robinho’s conviction in Italy are also provided for in Brazilian legislation and that the sentence is not inconsistent with those practiced in Brazil.

For Falcão, “denying the transfer of the defendant’s sentence [Robinho] for the simple fact of being a native Brazilian” could lead to diplomatic problems between Brazil and Italy.

According to the minister, the sentence was confirmed by the ordinary court of Milan, which is the competent authority to prosecute and judge the criminal action.

“Defending that the sentence imposed in a foreign case cannot be executed here is therefore the same as defending the defendant’s impunity for the crime committed”, he stated.

“Which cannot be admitted under penalty of violating the duties assumed by Brazil at the international level.”

Falcão also said that, as it is not possible to extradite a native Brazilian citizen, the Brazilian government itself admitted processing the request for transfer of the sentence formulated by the Italian government.

“Because through international treaties, the protection network for Brazilian citizens was created with the possibility of serving the sentence in their own country,” he said.

According to the investigation in Italy, the athlete and five other Brazilians committed group sexual violence against a woman of Albanian origin in a nightclub in Milan in 2013. He always denied the crime.

Initially, the European country demanded Robinho’s extradition, but legislation prevents this from happening to native Brazilians.

Italy then requested that the sentence be served in Brazil, which is assessed by the Special Court of the STJ.

In the process, Robinho’s defense argues that the Italian request should not be validated, and that the former player should be prosecuted again — this time, in Brazil.

The defense uses as an argument a July 1993 decree on legal cooperation in criminal matters between Brazil and Italy. The agreement says that this cooperation “will not include the execution of measures restricting personal freedom or the execution of sentences.”

Before the ministers began voting, lawyer José Eduardo Rangel de Alckmin stated that a fundamental clause in the Federal Constitution establishes that a native Brazilian cannot be extradited — with the exception of cases related to drug trafficking — and that, therefore, he must be tried in Brazil.

The lawyer’s interpretation of the opening to take the case to the STF (Supreme Federal Court), which judges cases related to constitutional issues.

He says that, as Robinho must be tried in Brazil, “there is no impunity” in relation to the former player’s case. The lawyer also pointed out what he considers procedural problems in the action he filed in Italy.

In Francisco Falcão’s view, however, Robinho could not be tried again in Brazil, because it would generate duplicity of actions against the former athlete for the same episodes.

Representing the Federal Public Ministry, the deputy attorney general of the Republic, Hindenburgo Chateaubriand, defended that the Italian sentence be carried out in Brazil, and cited international treaties signed by Brazil that recognize the possibility.

“The impunity of Brazilians who committed crimes abroad cannot be allowed, simply because Brazil does not extradite them,” said the deputy PGR.

For the Italian sentence to be approved, a simple majority vote in the STJ is necessary – half plus one of the ministers present.

Although Robinho has always publicly denied the crime, the Italian police recorded conversations between the former athlete and friends in which he confirmed the victim’s unconscious state.

“That’s why I’m laughing, I don’t care. The girl was extremely drunk, she doesn’t even know who I am,” said the former player.

The recordings were part of the material used by the Italian Public Ministry in the process that convicted the Brazilian of gang rape.