To promote his new book, ex-soccer star Ronaldinho wants to enter Paraguay with his brother – and is arrested. Because both use fake passports. After much back and forth, a judge decides: the men remain in custody.
The Brazilian ex-soccer star Ronaldinho is now in custody in Paraguay because of his entry with a fake passport. The 39-year-old and his brother were arrested for the second time in the capital Asunción. A judge confirmed that the two were in custody on Saturday. The originally responsible public prosecutor had waived an indictment, but was replaced at the instigation of the attorney general.
Judge Clara Ruiz Diaz found that Ronaldinho and his brother Roberto de Assis Moreira illegally “committed a serious crime that threatens the state”. The prerequisites for pre-trial detention are thus fulfilled. The brothers’ defense lawyer, Tarek Tuma, called the judge’s decision “irrational, arbitrary, and frivolous” and demanded that the case be withdrawn. According to police, Ronaldinho had spent the night in an office of the National Police headquarters that had been turned into a cell. He was allowed to receive visitors – one of them had brought him bedding – and to order dinner from a fast food chain.
The General Prosecutor’s Office in Asunción said on Saturday night that she had ordered the arrest and pre-trial detention of Ronaldinho and his brother “for using a government document with bogus content”. In doing so, she reversed the decision of the originally responsible public prosecutor Federico Delfino, who had issued Ronaldinho’s release a few hours earlier.
Attorney General Sandra Quiñónez exchanged prosecutor Delfino for his colleague Osmar Legal. The latter ordered the arrest again and Ronaldinho and his brother were taken from their hotel by plainclothes officers. Ronaldinho’s lawyer Adolfo Marín said shortly afterwards that the detention was “strange, we don’t know anything”. As late as Friday, Prosecutor Delfino had decided not to file charges against Ronaldinho and his brother. The brothers were “cheated” and acted “in good faith” when they received the counterfeit passports in Brazil, said Delfino. He also praised the fact that they gave useful testimony during a seven-hour hearing on Thursday.
Two hours between release and arrest
A judge then stated that Ronaldinho and his brother were now free to go wherever they wanted. They left the judicial building in Asunción on Friday evening local time, but the arrest was made just under two hours later. The first arrest of the two Brazilians occurred in their hotel on Wednesday. The police searched her room and found her fake passports. According to the investigators, these were noticed when entering the Asunción airport. In the case, a Brazilian player agent working for Ronaldinho and two Paraguayans were also arrested.
Ronaldinho, two-time world footballer and world champion from 2002, wanted to advertise his new book in Paraguay. At the same time, he wanted to start a program that should inspire children for a sporty lifestyle and open the casino of a Brazilian businessman. The former star player of FC Barcelona and his brother had their passports withdrawn in Brazil in November 2018 because they had not paid the equivalent of the equivalent of 2.2 million euros. This penalty was imposed for causing massive environmental damage to a property in Porto Alegre.
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