Brazilian football legend Ronaldinho, who was arrested in Paraguay for entering the country with a fake passport, has been released from prison and placed in house arrest.
Ronaldinho was sentenced to a six-month term in prison but now has been shifted to a hotel after serving 32 days. The decision was taken due to the global outbreak of the coronavirus which has affected more than 100 people in Paraguay and killed five.
The 40-year-old former Ballon d’Or winner is believed to have paid a 1.3 million Euro bond following his arrest with his brother Roberto Assis, 49, after police raided their presidential suite at the Resort Yacht and Golf Club, around 15km south of Asuncion.
However, Ronaldinho’s lawyer had maintained the footballer was not deliberately trying to enter Paraguay with a fake passport and demanded he should be released by the authorities.
Ronaldinho, on his part, said the passports had been given him by people who had invited him to attend conferences sponsored by charities working with disadvantaged children. According to him, his documents were given by Brazilian businessman, Wilmondes Sousa Liria, who has been jailed.
Ronaldinho and Assis travelled to Paraguay on March 4 to participate in a children’s charity event and promote a new book. The pair were arrested later that day when authorities realised they had entered the country with fake passports.
Earlier, the Brazilian Globo newspaper had reported that Ronaldinho’s famous smile “disappeared” after spending more than three weeks in a Paraguayan jail.
“Ronaldinho is sad, he is not happy,” the Globo newspaper quoted former Paraguay international Nelson Cuevas as saying. “He is known for his smile, his good humour and carefree attitude. But his smile has disappeared.”
Cuevas, who was capped 41 times for Paraguay’s national team, said his “five or six-hour conversation” with Ronaldinho left him convinced that the 2002 World Cup winner was an unwitting victim of a plan involving “bad people”.
(With inputs from IANS and PTI)