Robinho was convicted in 2017 for the role that he played in the gang rape of an Albanian woman celebrating her 23rd birthday at a Milan nightclub in 2013, with that sentence upheld by the Italian Court of Cassation in January 2022. Robinho was playing for AC Milan at the time of the alleged incident. The 41-year-old has been kept at Tremembe prison, 150km from Sao Paulo, since March 2024. He has always maintained his innocence, with legal representatives lodging a release request on his behalf. However, the former player’s appeal was knocked back by authorities in Brazil following a vote that ruled 10-1 in favour of keeping Robinho behind bars. A vote in November last year upheld the validity of Robinho’s sentence being transferred from Italy to Brazil.
Speaking to CNN Brasil, Justice Luiz Fux said: “The declaration of opposition is only admissible when there is ambiguity, obscurity, contradiction or omission in the sentence or ruling, as provided for in article 619 of the CPP. The defence is unreasonable. The Plenary of this Supreme Court, by majority, expressly rejected, in this specific case, the principle of non-retroactivity provided for in Article 5, XL, of the Federal Constitution, considering it inapplicable in the present case.”