Ex-Brazil star Robinho 'should serve 9-year prison sentence for rape'

Former soccer star Robinho came a step nearer to having to serve his nine-year jail sentence for rape in Brazil last night.

Last November Italian authorities asked Brazilian officials to make the former Real Madrid, AC Milan and Manchester City star do his prison time in his homeland after his extradition was ruled out for legal reasons.

Earlier on Tuesday, public prosecutors in Brazil said they thought the footballer could and should be jailed there.

They told the country's High Court of Justice it was in line with national legislation and would serve the twin purposes of demonstrating the country's efforts in combating crime and judicial cooperation.

The possibility that Robinho will do prison time in Italy following his 2017 conviction for sexual assault in a Milan nightclub and the failure of his appeals against his nine year sentence, has been ruled out because Brazil doesn't extradite its citizens sentenced abroad.

Local reports said Brazil's Public Prosecutor's Office had indicated in its communication with the High Court of Justice that a failure to heed the Italian request risked allowing Robinho to flout the law with impunity.

The ex-footballer was one of a group of six men convicted of sexually assaulting an Albanian woman in a Milan club on January 22 2013 while he was playing for AC Milan.

The news was made public in November 2017.

The 39-year-old, whose real name is Robson de Souza, re-signed with boyhood club Santos for a fourth stint in October 2020 but less than a week later his contract was ended by mutual consent.

The decision was taken after leading sponsor Orthopride cut its ties with the club in reaction to the deal because of his Italian rape conviction.

Speaking after the Santos announcement, the striker