Robinho Asks Brazil’s Supreme Court to Remove ‘Heinous Crime’ Label From Italian Rape Conviction

Overview

• Robinho’s lawyers submitted a new habeas corpus to the Supreme Federal Court challenging the classification applied when Brazil homologated his Italian sentence.
• The defense argues the Superior Tribunal de Justiça unlawfully altered the nature of the foreign conviction by designating the offense as a heinous crime.
• Minister Luiz Fux is the rapporteur on the request after previously voting with the majority to deny two earlier habeas petitions in the case.
• Counsel says the heinous designation restricts regime progression and that, after more than one year and seven months served, he could qualify for semi-open if it is removed.
• The former player has been serving a nine-year sentence from a 2017 Italian rape conviction at Tremembé prison since March 2024, and he maintains the encounter was consensual.