Santos and Robinho Announce Suspension of Player’s Contract after Rape Conviction in Italy

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – After being the most commented topic of the day on social media, Robinho used Instagram’s stories to announce the suspension of his contract with Santos, the club that revealed him and was willing to repatriate him despite having been convicted in an Italian court for rape. “With great sadness in my heart, I come to tell you that I made the decision, together with [Santos’s] president, to have my contract suspended, in this troubled moment of my life.”

A few minutes later, the club’s Twitter profile published a note stating that Santos and Robinho, “in common agreement, decided to suspend the validity of the contract signed last October 10th so that the player can focus exclusively on his defense in the proceedings running in Italy.”

“My goal has always been to help Santos Soccer Club and, if in any way I’m getting in the way, it’s better that I leave and focus on my personal affairs,” added Robinho in the video released on his account. The hiring by Santos led to embarrassing developments for the club’s leaders. On Friday, Globoesporte published the transcripts of phonecalls and message exchanges that were used as evidence by the Italian court to convict the soccer star.

In one of the excerpts from the conversations, which are part of the proceedings, the attacker recounts what occurred on the night of January 22nd, 2013, when a woman of Albanian origin reported being the victim of collective rape by Robinho and four of his friends. In the dialogue with Ricardo Falco, who, like the player was sentenced to nine years in prison, Robinho admits having had a sexual relationship with the complainant and mocks her alleged vulnerability due to the consumption of alcoholic beverages. To his friend, he also stated that he was certain that another defendant in the case “had ejaculated inside her [victim]”.

“I’m laughing because I couldn’t care less. The woman was completely drunk, she doesn’t even know what happened,” Robinho said, according to the transcript of a conversation with musician Jairo Chagas, who played at the nightclub, located in Milan, on the night of the occurrence. Chagas also had conversations tapped by the Italian authorities. In one of them, the musician says he saw Robinho placing “his penis inside her mouth”, but he is promptly refuted by the striker, who at the time was playing for Milan. “That doesn’t mean having sex.” In another conversation, this time with a friend, Chagas summarizes the act -which he denied in court to have witnessed- committed by the group of Brazilians: “This is called rape.”

In her decision, Judge Mariolina Panasiti explains that she reached her decision after ascertaining in the case records that the defendants had offered drinks until the victim was “unconscious and incapable of resisting”. She noted that Robinho and Falco showed “utter disregard” for the plaintiff, “exposed to repeated humiliation, as well as severe acts of sexual violence”, particularly in the intercepted conversations. According to the judge, the accused showed “unequivocal signs of lack of scruples and near awareness of future impunity,” leading one of the defendants (Robinho) “to laugh several times at the incident, thus underlining an absolute disrespect for the victim’s condition.”

Throughout the week, faced with the negative repercussions after the announced hiring by Santos, Robinho’s attorney Marisa Alija threatened to sue journalists who referred to the player as “convicted”, arguing that as long as the proceedings are not confirmed by the final appeallate court, he must be considered innocent. On social media, Alija called judge Mariolina Panasiti “belligerent”, alleged lack of evidence for the preliminary conviction of her client and qualified the criticism of the club for hiring him as “internet belligerence”. She mentions the case of ex-president Lula, convicted by Lava Jato in the Guarujá triplex and the Atibaia farm indictments, to argue for the presumption of innocence on behalf of Robinho.

However, in 2019, the same attorney had complained of the STF overturning the imprisonment after conviction in a second instance, calling Lula a “convict” – although the cases had no final judgment – by insinuating that appeals serve to “waste years” in the courts. “I still think it’s wrong to prevent imprisonment when there is overwhelming evidence of a crime, such as a confessed defendant and arrest in the act,” Alija argued last Tuesday.

Jurists understand that, despite the evidence documented on the phone recordings, Robinho’s defense could try to overturn evidence used by the prosecution in the appellate court trial, scheduled for December this year. “The principle of a broad defense applies in every country that adopts the democratic rule of law, as is the case in Brazil and Italy,” explains attorney Tiago Lenoir, master of law and specialist in criminology. “At any moment in the proceeding, the defense can produce new evidence to demonstrate the innocence of the defendant, even after the final judgment.”

Sponsors condemn Santos’ position

In 2009, when he played for Manchester City, Robinho had already been pointed out as a sex offender by a woman he had met in a nightclub. He even testified at a police station in England, but the case was dismissed. If he is convicted after exhausting all appeals in Italy, the player may still attempt to avoid serving his sentence in jail. Because it is a crime committed abroad, the Brazilian Constitution does not provide for the extradition of native-born citizens. A new proceeding would have to be opened in Brazil in order to assess the potential enforcement of the sentence.

In an attempt to circumvent the indignation of part of its fans, Santos released a note of clarification on the hiring of Robinho on Wednesday, maintaining that it would not “convict the athlete in advance”, extolling his victorious record for the team. The statement are a contradiction in the club’s institutional positioning, which recently promoted campaigns to fight violence against women. “Unfortunately, we are living in the era of cancellations, of the culture of the Internet courts and of judgments that are as hasty as they are definitive, but we are sure that the Santos supporters will understand that it is exclusively up to the Courts to judge.”

Both Orlando Rollo, president of Santos and an investigator for the Civil Police, and manager Cuca advocated the hiring. “Robinho is a wonderful person, a model player. I hope he helps us greatly, both on and off the field,” said the manager, who was convicted by the Swiss courts in the 1980s, when he was a Grêmio player, on charges of taking part in the collective rape of a 13-year-old girl. Santos players and the striker’s former colleagues also praised his return to Brazilian soccer. “I hope that all of Brazil’s crimes would have the same media coverage as Robinho’s case, because there are so many idolized criminals, thieves, pedophiles, corrupts and many more,” said Zé Love, who played with Robinho for Santos in 2010.

Reluctant to accept the seriousness of the accusations that weigh against its former player, Santos embittered the consequences of the hiring. Sponsors threatened a stampede off if Robinho’s inclusion were not reviewed. Orthopride, which exposed its brand on the Santos uniform numbers, ended the sponsorship agreement even before the recordings were disclosed. Kicaldo Alimentos announced that it would end its advertising contract if the team were to keep the convicted player in the squad. In all, Santos has nine official sponsors.

Source: El País