There is no consensus among the legal experts interviewed by the CNN on whether the player Robinho could be arrested in Brazil after being convicted this Wednesday (19) in Italy.
Robinho was ultimately convicted, accused of participating in a gang rape of a 23-year-old Albanian girl at a Milan nightclub in 2013.
In national territory, Robinho cannot be extradited for being a native Brazilian. On this the experts agree. But there are different interpretations about the possibility of him serving his sentence in Brazilian territory.
For Walter Maierovicth, jurist and president of the Giovanni Falcone Brazilian Institute of Criminal Sciences, Robinho could only be arrested if he left Brazil of his own volition for one of the countries that sign the pact for the International Police (Interpol).
Inside Brazil, however, he does not see the possibility of Robinho serving time. “There is no possibility of allowing an arrest warrant,” said Maierovicth.
The jurist reinforces the unfeasibility of an extradition of Robinho by the Brazilian justice for the fact that he is a born Brazilian. Extradition, in cases like this, is not authorized by the Constitution.
The president of the Brazilian Institute of Criminal Sciences (IBCCRIM), Marina Araújo Coelho, agrees that the extradition of Robinho from Brazil to Italy is unfeasible, but says that there is a possibility that the sentence will be applied by the Brazilian justice system.
“There is a possibility that Brazil could import the penalty, but it would not be automatic. Italy should send a request to the Brazilian Justice”, explains the expert.
From there, the Brazilian justice would analyze the possibility of ratifying the importation of the sentence. “Only then would the penalty be applied in Brazil”, he explains.
She highlights that the importation of the sentence is a procedure analyzed by the Superior Court of Justice and that, although there have already been cases of release of the sentence to be applied in Brazil, this decision is uncommon.
Criminal lawyer and professor at the USP Law School, Alamiro Velludo Netto, agrees that there is a chance that Robinho will serve his sentence in Brazil, but stresses that importing the sentence “is not so simple”.
“If the Brazilian government executed the decision of the Italian justice, it would be a suis generis situation”, says the professor. “That would be possible, but not likely.”
Resource in Brazil
If Brazil accepted a request from the Italian authorities for the application of the sentence in Brazilian territory, Robinho could still present a challenge on the merits if he alleges problems in the conduct of Italian justice processes, says Marina, from IBCCRIM.
The lawyer says, however, that the player would have difficulties to reverse the arrest if Brazil imported the penalty. I understand that the process in Italy is very close to ours, respecting democratic principles. He would have problems in terms of discussing merits, he reckons.
Reference: CNN Brasil
