- After spending 14 months behind bars
- Spanish Court overturns initial four-and-a-half year jail sentence
It is cheering news for former FC Barcelona and Brazil defender, Dani Alves with the Supreme Court in Catalunya acquitting him of a rape conviction.
The apex Court absolved the 40-year-old ex-Brazillian international following the success of his appeal against a four-and-a-half-year jail sentence.
Alves has maintained his innocence since handing himself over to police in January 2023. He was taken into custody after allegations were made regarding events that supposedly took place at a Barcelona nightclub in December 2022.
The ruling was overturned on Friday in a case that lasted more than three years and saw the former Barcelona defender spend 14 months in jail.
Alves was found guilty in February 2024 of raping a woman in a nightclub in December 2022 and sentenced to four years, and six months in prison. Alves denied wrongdoing during the three-day trial.
On Friday, the Court ruled that there was “insufficient evidence” to rule out Alves’ presumption of innocence.
“Dani Alves is innocent, and that has been proven,” his defense lawyer Inés Guardiola told Catalan radio RAC1. “Justice has finally been served.”
However, the plaintiff’s lawyer did not immediately respond to The Associated Press (AP) when emailed and messaged asking for comment.
The Alves trial was the first high-profile case since Spain overhauled its laws in 2022 to make consent central to defining a sex crime in response to an upswell of protests after a gang-rape case during the San Fermin bull-running festival in Pamplona in 2016.
The legislation popularly known as the “only yes means yes” law defines consent as an explicit expression of a person’s will, making it clear that silence or passivity do not equal consent.
But the four judges of the Barcelona-based Appeals Court ruled unanimously to overturn the conviction after reviewing the evidence and testimonies given to the lower court.
In their ruling, they wrote that the testimony of the plaintiff “differed notably” from evidence of video footage taken before the woman and Alves entered the bathroom where she said he forced her to have sex without her consent.
Different Versions
Before last year’s trial, the alleged victim told State prosecutors that she had danced with Alves at the nightclub and willingly entered the bathroom, but that later when she wanted to leave he would not let her. She said he slapped her, insulted her and forced her to have sex against her will.
Alves denied those accusations at the three-day trial, saying; “She never told me to stop. We were both enjoying ourselves,”
Repeatedly, he maintained that the woman never asked to leave or made any indication that she did not want to have sex with him. He also denied having slapped or insulted her.
Now 41, Alves was kept in jail from January 20, 2023 until March 2024. He was released after paying 1 million euros (about $1.2 million) for bail while awaiting his appeal.
He also handed over his passports, with prosecutors having argued against releasing him on bail because of a possible flight risk.
Prosecutors wanted his prison sentence increased to nine years while the victim’s lawyer wanted him to stay behind bars for 12 years.
However, this decision could be appealed to the Spanish Supreme Court in Madrid.
Clearly one of the most successful players of his generation, Alves won dozens of titles with elite clubs including Barcelona, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).
Also helping Brazil to win two Copa Americas and an Olympic gold medal at age 38, Alves played at his third World Cup, the only major title he has not won, in 2022.
The fleet-footed defender played for Barcelona from 2008-16, helping the team win three Champions League titles and six Spanish league crowns, and briefly rejoined the club in 2022. He still has a residence near the city.
Mexican club Pumas was where Alves last featured but the team terminated his contract immediately after the Police arrested him over the rape charge. – With Agency reports
