(Refiles to correct byline; removes “and”)
By Ramiro Scandolo
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentine golfer Angel Cabrera, a two-time winner of major tournaments, was extradited from Brazil on Tuesday to stand trial in his home country on charges of violence against former domestic partners, a prosecutor in the case told Reuters.
Cabrera was arrested at the beginning of the year in Rio de Janeiro after he left Argentina and was placed on the Interpol red list.
He will spend the night in a cell in Iguazu in Argentina´s northeastern Misiones province on the border with Brazil before being transferred 800 miles (1,200km) south to a local jail in Cordoba pending a trial.
Reuters footage showed the 51-year-old sportsman, his hands cuffed in front of him and dressed in a federal police-issue stab vest and ballistic helmet, being transferred into police custody and driven to a police station in Iguazu.
According to a police statement, Cabrera faces charges of minor injuries, threats and theft said to have occurred between 2016 and 2020.
Laura Battistelli, the prosecutor, said Cabrera would stand trial for the case she was leading on July 1, with other allegations still under investigation.
“He is detained because the court considered that he was evading the trial,” she said.
Known as El Pato, Cabrera won the U.S. Open in 2007 and the Augusta Masters tournament in 2009. He last participated in a tournament in September 2020.
(Reporting by Ramiro Scandolo; Writing by Nicolás Misculin and Walter Bianchi; Editing by Leslie Adler)