Robinho, life behind bars after Italian rape conviction | OneFootball

Robinho is serving in Brazil the nine-year sentence handed down by Italian courts for a 2013 gang rape, his prison routine revealing a steep fall from grace. According to L'Équipe, the 41-year-old has struggled to adapt to life inside.

In March 2024 Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice accepted Italy’s request for him to serve the term in his homeland, plus 60,000 euros compensation. He was arrested on 21 March, taken to Tremembé near Sao Paulo, then transferred on 17 November to a facility in Limeira.

After 12 days in isolation he joined the general population, wearing a white T-shirt and brown uniform and sharing a cell. The report describes him as despondent, often in tears and praying, and says he refused to play in prison matches, declined work or the library, and instead completed a 60-hour electronics course that did not reduce his sentence. Early-release bids have been rejected.

Wiretaps from early 2014 captured him initially dismissing the allegation before later acknowledging a sexual act, and during the trial that began in 2016 he said the oral sex was consensual. He was sentenced in first instance on 23 November 2017, a ruling upheld in December 2020. Moves to Santos collapsed under pressure as he drifted between Brazil, China and Türkiye.

His wife Vivian Guglielmetti continues to visit and support him, while Neymar publicly backed Robinho Junior on Instagram in July. The victim, now back in Albania and studying law, is described as still fragile and says their imprisonment is not a victory and that she is not ready to forgive.

Source: L'Équipe