Robinho: raped woman’s lawyer celebrates decision – 03/20/2024 – Sport

Lawyer Jacopo Gnocchi, who represents the victim of the gang rape for which former player Robson de Souza was convicted, said, this Wednesday (20), that he has always believed in Brazilian justice and that he now hopes that the prison sentence will be executed as quickly as possible in Brazil, as would have happened if he had been in Italy after the final conviction, in January 2022.

“I have always had confidence in the Brazilian justice system and it was a well-placed trust. Therefore, I have the utmost respect for the Brazilian system and the court, which in my opinion made the correct decision,” he told Sheet, shortly after the STJ (Superior Court of Justice) formed a majority in favor of Robinho serving a nine-year sentence in Brazil. “Now I hope the authorities look for Robinho and make him serve his sentence in prison.”

The lawyer followed from Italy, through online transmission, the trial that decided to validate the sentence of the Italian Court and to serve the sentence in Brazil. The ministers voted 9 in favor and 2 against.

“Brazil has demonstrated that it is a great country and not a paradise of impunity,” said the lawyer. “At this point, I hope it continues like this until the end, so that the victim can put an end to this and turn the page, even knowing that, unfortunately, this type of crime is never forgotten.”

The victim who reported the group is a woman of Albanian origin who is currently 34 years old and lives in Italy. According to the lawyer, she also followed the trial at the STJ from a distance, but had not commented.

Robinho was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2017, a decision definitively confirmed in 2022 by the third and final instance of the Italian Judiciary. The crime occurred in January 2013 in a nightclub in Milan, in northern Italy, where Robinho was playing for Milan at the time.

For the lawyer, the result proves the importance of victims reporting crimes. “[A decisão do STJ] It means that the system exists, works and responds positively, despite delays and bureaucracy. Women should trust this and not be afraid if there is a rich and famous person on the other side.”

This week, in an interview with a TV station and on social media, the former player accused the Italian judiciary of racism and of having made “several mistakes”. For Italian newspapers, it was an attack on the country.

“It was an own goal. I think he did himself wrong with that interview,” said Gnocchi.

“He had eight years of process, three degrees in the judiciary and had the possibility of telling his version, even directly, but he never appeared in court. He had all the possibilities under Italian law. In any case, the facts were definitively established. Give an interview three days before the decision of the Superior Court of Justice, in my opinion, was an attempt that did him more harm than good.”

According to an investigation by the Italian Public Ministry, Robinho, Ricardo Falco and four other Brazilians committed group sexual violence against the victim, who was drunk by them and, unconscious, raped several times. The accusation was based on the victim’s testimony and on conversations intercepted with authorization from the Italian Justice, included as evidence in the process.

Falco was also sentenced to nine years in prison in Italy, but the approval of his sentence has not yet been judged in Brazil. Because they left Italy during the investigation, the other four men could not be notified, and their case was removed from the process. Currently, he is stuck in the first instance.

Robinho has always denied the crime.