ASUNCION, Paraguay, March 13, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Lawyers for Brazilian
football great Ronaldinho have appealed his pre-trial detention and he will
return to court next Tuesday, Paraguayan judicial sources said on Thursday.
The 39-year-old World Cup winner and his brother, Roberto de Assis Moreira,
have been held in a police cell since last Friday accused of entering
Paraguay using fake passports.
Ronaldinho’s lawyers insist that the magistrates who ordered the brothers’
detention “exceeded their functions,” making his jailing illegal.
Sixteen people have so far been implicated in the fake passport scandal,
public prosecutor Federico Delfino said.
On Tuesday, a court rejected a request from Ronaldinho’s lawyers for
conditional release on bail or house arrest.
The brothers arrived in Asuncion from Brazil last week and showed their
passports to immigration police, who did not immediately notice any problem.
Hours later, when the passports were determined to be fake, investigators
raided the football star’s hotel room and seized the brothers’ identity cards
and travel documents.
Ronaldinho said the passports had been given to him by people who had
invited him to attend conferences sponsored by charities working with
disadvantaged children.
A Brazilian businessman has also been arrested in connection with the fake
travel documents, while two Paraguayan women have been placed under house
arrest.
The country’s migration director has resigned.
Judge Gustavo Amarilla has said the investigation is looking into possible
criminal association and money laundering.
Ronaldinho, considered one of the greatest footballers of all time, was a
star of Brazil’s 2002 World Cup win and played for European giants Barcelona,
Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan, among others.
He is being held in police cells alongside 25 police officers accused of
various crimes and four politicians, including the former president of the
Paraguyan Football Association and an ex-president of the House of Deputies.
Ronaldinho has taken part in a football match involving inmates and riot
police, a police source told AFP.