A high court in Brazil ruled on Wednesday that former football star Robinho has 15 days to challenge Italy's request to arrest and imprison him for rape.
The deadline was set after Brazil's superior court of justice unanimously rejected a request from the 39-year-old's lawyers for the court to analyse a full translation of the proceedings and the sentence against Robinho from Italian into Portuguese.
Italian authorities want the former Brazil, Real Madrid and AC Milan striker to serve his nine-year sentence in Brazil, but the court is yet to agree. Brazil doesn't extradite nationals.
Robinho was convicted in Italy in 2017 for his part in the group sexual assault in Milan that took place four years previously, when he was playing for Serie A team AC Milan. Italy's top court upheld the Brazilian's sentence in 2022, after which Italian prosecutors issued an international arrest warrant.
The Brazilian court will decide whether to execute the arrest warrant and impose the sentence pending Robinho's possible challenge under the new deadline.
Robinho lives in Santos, outside Sao Paulo. He relinquished his passport to Brazilian authorities in March.
His lawyers did not respond a request for comment. They have said their client had consensual sexual relations at a bar with a young woman, as five of his friends also did.
