Former soccer player Robinho, convicted of collective rape, described in a video his routine at Tremembé prison in São Paulo, denying any privileges. He stated he is treated like other inmates and emphasized the focus on rehabilitation. The testimony was published by the Taubaté Community Council on YouTube.
In a video released by the Taubaté Community Council on YouTube, former soccer player Robinho, aged 41, detailed his daily life at Tremembé prison in São Paulo state. Convicted to nine years in prison for a collective rape committed in 2013 at a nightclub in Milan, Italy, Robinho vehemently denied receiving any special treatment.
"The food, the time I sleep, everything is the same as the other inmates. I have never eaten different food, never had any different treatment. At work time, I do everything here that all the other inmates can also do. When we want to play soccer, it's allowed on Sundays when there's no work," said the ex-athlete.
He emphasized that he faces no psychological issues, does not use controlled medications, and that visits, held on Saturdays or Sundays with his wife and children, follow the same rules for everyone. "I have never had any kind of benefit. Visits are on Saturdays or Sundays. When my wife doesn't come alone, she comes with my children. The visit is the same and the treatment is the same for everyone. The lies that have come out, that I am a leader, that I have psychological problems. I have never had that, never had to take medicine, thank God," he commented.
Robinho stressed that he performs the same activities as other inmates and that the prison aims at rehabilitation. "I am doing everything that all inmates can also do. Here the goal is to reeducate, resocialize those who made a mistake. I have never had any kind of leadership here, no place. Here the guards are in charge, as I told you, and we inmates just obey," he concluded.
The crime involved Robinho and four other Brazilians who raped an Albanian-origin woman at the Sio Caffé nightclub while he played for Milan. Convicted in 2017, he exhausted appeals in Italy in 2022, and now serves his sentence in the Brazilian penitentiary system after Brazil denied extradition.