The football star Ronaldinho was allowed to leave the Paraguayan hotel where he and his brother Roberto de Assis Moreira spent months under house arrest. Judge Gustavo Amarilla released the two men on Monday.
Both Ronaldinho brothers were in a hotel in Paraguay’s capital, Asuncion, for the same charge. Since March, the 40-year-old former Brazil football player Ronaldinho was in detention over a forged passport. His brother Roberto de Assis Moreira also ‘is free to travel to whatever country in the world he wants but he must inform us if he changes his permanent residence’, the court verdict says.
The former World Cup winner is free to travel to whatever he wants under one condition. The ex-athlete should inform the judge about any change of his address the for a period of one year.
“He has no restrictions except for the fulfilment of reparations for damage to society,” judge Amarilla added.
Ronaldinho also accepted the terms of his release, which include payment of $90,000 in damages. His brother, who is also Ronaldinho’s business partner, must pay $110,000.
The judge stressed that he was not issuing a “definitive dismissal” of the case but rather that Ronaldinho was benefitting from a “conditional suspension of the procedure.”
Ronaldinho brother, on the other hand, was given a two-year suspended sentence. Prosecutors said they did not believe Ronaldinho took part in the plan to manufacture the fake Paraguayan passports but believed de Assis Moreira was aware that the passports were false.
“They flagrantly used a public document containing false content,” said Marcelo Pecci, one of the public prosecutors, who said it was a “very serious” offense.
De Assis Moreira must appear before a judge in Brazil every four months for two years and will have a criminal record.
“Ronaldinho’s situation is not the same as Roberto’s. He has no obligation to appear before any Brazilian judicial authority. He must only report a change of address,” said judge, who accepted a recommendation by four prosecutors to avoid the need for an oral trial.
