Handcuffed Ronaldinho and brother appear in Paraguayan court
The Associated Press | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 4 months AGO
Former soccer star Ronaldinho, second from left, and his brother Roberto de Assis Moreira walks escorted by police officers to declare to judge Clara Ruiz Diaz at Justice Palace in Asuncion, Paraguay, Saturday, March 7, 2020. Ronaldinho and his brother Roberto were alleged to enter to the country with a false Paraguayan passport.(AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Former soccer star Ronaldinho walks handcuffed and escorted by a police officer to declare to judge Clara Ruiz Diaz at Justice Palace in Asuncion, Paraguay, Saturday, March 7, 2020. Ronaldinho and his brother Roberto were alleged to enter to the country with a false Paraguayan passport.(AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Former soccer star Ronaldinho talks as he walks escorted by Police officers with hands handcuffed to declare to judge Clara Ruiz Diaz at Justice Palace in Asuncion, Paraguay, Saturday, March 7, 2020. Ronaldinho and his brother Roberto de Assis Moreira, right back, were alleged to enter to the country with a false Paraguayan passport.(AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Former soccer star Ronaldinho talks as he walks escorted by Police officers with hands handcuffed to declare to judge Clara Ruiz Diaz at Justice Palace in Asuncion, Paraguay, Saturday, March 7, 2020. Ronaldinho and his brother Roberto de Assis Moreira, right back, were alleged to enter to the country with a false Paraguayan passport.(AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Ronaldinho's brother Roberto de Assis Moreira walks escorted by Police officers to declare to judge Clara Ruiz Diaz at Justice Palace in Asuncion, Paraguay, Saturday, March 7, 2020. Ronaldinho and his brother Roberto were alleged to enter to the country with a false Paraguayan passport.(AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — Former soccer star Ronaldinho and his brother were taken in handcuffs to a courthouse in Paraguay on Saturday following their arrest for allegedly entering the country with falsified documents.
Prosecutors are seeking to extend the detention of 39-year-old Ronaldinho and brother Roberto Assis, while defense lawyer Sérgio Queiroz says they should be freed because they are not a threat or flight risk.
The Brazilian brothers were arrested Friday night in a hotel in Asunción, Paraguay's capital, and accused of using false Paraguayan ID documents.
Queiroz had said Ronaldinho, the 2002 World Cup winner and former Barcelona star, was preparing to take a flight back to Rio de Janeiro, where he lives, shortly before the arrests.
Ronaldinho and Assis had said they went to Asunción for business reasons.
The former footballer and his brother said the documents were offered as a gift by a Brazilian businessman, Wilmondes Sousa Liria, who has been jailed.
Ronaldinho's passport was seized in November 2018 because of a lawsuit over alleged environmental crimes. Authorities said the former Barcelona star did not have the necessary environmental license to build a fishing platform on the shores of the Guaiba river in his hometown of Porto Alegre. With unpaid damages of $2.1 million, Ronaldinho's passport was seized, along with that of his brother, to prevent him from traveling.
In September of last year, however, the star reached a deal with prosecutors and got his documents back. It was not immediately clear why he and his brother did not use their Brazilian documents for the trip to Paraguay.
MORE IMPORTED STORIES
Handcuffed Ronaldinho and brother appear in Paraguayan court
Bonner County Daily Bee | Updated 5 years, 4 months ago
Handcuffed Ronaldinho and brother appear in Paraguayan court
Columbia Basin Herald | Updated 5 years, 4 months ago
Ronaldinho arrested in Paraguay in false passport case
Daily Inter-Lake | Updated 5 years, 4 months ago
ARTICLES BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Latest: US helped family escape Afghanistan overland
WASHINGTON — The United States is confirming for the first time that it has helped a U.S. citizen and family members to escape Afghanistan through an overland route to a neighboring country.
The Latest: US helped family escape Afghanistan overland
WASHINGTON — The United States is confirming for the first time that it has helped a U.S. citizen and family members to escape Afghanistan through an overland route to a neighboring country.
The Latest: Top Republican says Taliban holding Americans
WASHINGTON — The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee says some Americans who have been trying to get out of Afghanistan since the U.S. military left are sitting in airplanes at an airport ready to leave but the Taliban are not letting them take off.