“He was stupid.” Ronaldinho’s lawyer justified the arrest of his client in Paraguay

The lawyer of the Brazilian player Ronaldinho defended his client's innocence of the charge of using forged documents, and said that the player was "stupid" and did not know what was going on.

On Saturday, a Paraguayan judge ordered that Ronaldinho, his brother and business manager, Roberto, be kept in prison, days after entering the country with a false passport.

The two brothers filed a request for their release, but Judge Clara Ruiz Diaz refused this and said they were pursuing a crime "serious and against the interests of the Paraguayan state", and confirmed that the two brothers may travel on flights so they should be kept in detention.

According to Paraguay law, the authorities have six months to complete their investigations, but the judge has confirmed that the case may be decided in a shorter time.

Ronaldinho's lawyer considered the prison decision "unbelievable" and announced that he would appeal against him. Tariq Toma said that the former Barcelona player "does not understand what is happening" and described him as "stupid" because he did not realize that he was committing a crime and did not know that he had been granted a passport Forged.

The events began on Wednesday when the two brothers attempted to enter Paraguay with false passports, saying they had obtained them from the party that invited them, and they were detained, but the public prosecutor who believes that they were tricked into obtaining false papers requested their release after agreeing to perform an alternative punishment such as a guarantee directed to charity . However, one of the judges rejected the recommendation on Friday, after which they were arrested.

The two brothers received an invitation to travel to Paraguay from the owner of a nightclub and arrived on Wednesday to participate in a children's football project and to launch a book.

Ronaldinho, 39, a former Gremio, Flamengo and Paris Saint-Germain player, ended his career in 2015, and was the best player in the world at the height of his career at the beginning of the century.

FIFA chose him as the best player in the world in 2004 and 2005 and won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002 and the Champions League with Barcelona in 2006.