A judge has rejected charges of drug trafficking against Brazilian football star Adriano.
Prosecutors had charged the striker with connection with drug trafficking because he allegedly bought a motorcycle and gave it as a gift to a known drug dealer in the Rio de Janeiro shantytown where he grew up.
But the judge has announced there was not enough evidence to uphold the accusations.
The 32-year-old player, full name Adriano Leite Ribeiro, could have faced up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
He described the charges as "absurd" and said he was "certain" he would be cleared. He said he is "honest" and does not "owe anything to anybody".
He found global fame after moving to Italy in 2001, and was a starter for Brazil in the 2006 World Cup. His career stalled after a return to Brazil in 2011, and he is reportedly negotiating for a comeback with French second division club Le Havre.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article