ASUNCION • Former Brazil star Ronaldinho was released on Monday by a Paraguayan judge after spending five months in detention over a forged passport.
Judge Gustavo Amarilla also released his brother Roberto de Assis Moreira, who likewise had been held for a month in jail and another four months under house arrest in a hotel in the country's capital, Asuncion, on the same charge.
Ronaldinho, the 40-year-old former 2002 World Cup winner, "is free to travel to whatever country in the world he wants but he must inform us if he changes his permanent residence" for a period of one year, Amarilla said.
"He has no restrictions except for the fulfilment of reparations for damage to society."
Dressed in jeans, a black beret and black shirt, Ronaldinho accepted the terms of his release, including payment of US$90,000 (S$123,200) in damages.
Amarilla stressed that he was not issuing a "definitive dismissal" of the case but rather that Ronaldinho was benefiting from a "conditional suspension of the procedure".
His brother, who is also the former Barcelona forward's business manager, was, on the other hand, given a two-year suspended sentence and told to pay US$110,000 in damages.
He must appear before a judge in Brazil every four months for two years and will have a criminal record.
Prosecutors said they did not believe Ronaldinho took part in the plan to manufacture the fake Paraguayan passports but believed Roberto was aware that the passports were false.
"They flagrantly used a public document containing false content," added Marcelo Pecci, one of the public prosecutors, who called it a "very serious" offence.
Amarilla said: "Ronaldinho's situation is not the same as Roberto's. He has no obligation to appear before any Brazilian judicial authority. He must only report a change of address."
The brothers arrived in Paraguay on March 4 with Ronaldinho, the 2005 Ballon d'Or winner, due to take part in an event in support of disadvantaged children.
However, two days later, the pair were taken into police custody when investigators raided their hotel following the discovery they had used fake travel documents.
After being locked up in jail for a month, during which Ronaldinho celebrated his 40th birthday on March 21, the two men were then put under house arrest. They have spent over four months in a luxury hotel on US$1.6 million bail.
The investigation has since expanded into a case of possible money laundering and criminal association.
Some 18 people have already been arrested in connection with the case, most of them immigration officials or police officers.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
