A Brazilian man detained at a World Cup match will be held in Russia before his extradition to face charges of robbing post offices in Brazil, a Russian court ruled on Sunday.
Rodrigo Denardi Vicentini was picked up on an international arrest warrant after watching his country beat Costa Rica 2-0 in St Petersburg on Friday. He is wanted back home for a series of gang robberies targeting post offices last year, according to local Russian court documents.
St Petersburg's Petrograd district court said it would now hold Vicentini for up to two months as part of the extradition request.
"(He) explained to the court that he was not guilty of anything, that the police were treating him well, asked to be let go, insisted he knew nothing about the charges and that probably everything that had happened was a mistake," the court said in a statement.
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Russian online news outlet Fontanka earlier reported that Vicentini had been identified at the match by Interpol, who worked with Russian and Brazilian police to single him out in the crowd.
Police chose to wait until after the game to detain him, Fontanka reported, so as not to alarm or aggravate other fans in the stands.
The Petrograd court said the suspect, who holds Brazilian and Italian citizenship, had been living and working in Britain for the last year.
