Paraguayan Court Releases Ronaldinho for House Arrest

Former player and his brother paid $ 1.6 million bail and go to a hotel

Paraguayan judge Gustavo Amarilla on Tuesday (7) granted house arrest to Ronaldinho Gaúcho, 40, and his brother, Roberto de Assis, 49. The two will stay in a luxury hotel in Asunción after paying $ 1.6 million bail.

The decision ends the 32-day period in which the pair sat in an Asunción penitentiary. The two will have constant police monitoring. The money for the bail came from an account of Ronaldinho himself.

Ronaldinho Gaúcho participated in a championship game for the inmates. Foto: Twitter/Santiago Ravidlas

He and Assisi have been detained in Asunción since the night of March 6, accused of being in the country with false passports. They received the documents in the VIP room at Silvio Petirossi international airport, in Luque, a city next to the capital.

Passports were the starting point for an investigation by the Public Ministry and the Ministry of Taxation of Paraguay. So far, 15 people have been arrested. Prosecutors are investigating currency evasion, money laundering, and printing of forged documents.

Ronaldinho, received in Paraguay as an idol, and Assisi were jailed in a barracks of the National Police of Paraguay, which had been adapted as a prison. While he was at the scene, he recorded videos at the request of other prisoners, played footvolley, and participated in a championship game for the inmates.

In testimony before the arrest, the two Brazilians claimed to have received the documents as gifts, unaware that they were not real papers.

Translated by Kiratiana Freelon

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