Barcelona, Spain – The Brazilian soccer player Dani Alves won his appeal against a conviction for sexual aggression when a Spanish court annulled the ruling on Friday in a case that lasted more than three years and saw the former defender of Barcelona spend 14 months in jail.
Alves was found guilty In February 2024, to violate a woman in a nightclub in December 2022 and sentenced to four years, six months in prison. Alves denied having acted badly during the three -day trial.
That court ruled on Friday that there was “insufficient evidence” to rule out Alves’s presumption of innocence.
“Dani Alves is innocent, and that has been tested,” said his defense lawyer Guardiola to Catalan Radio Rac1. “Finally justice has been served.”
The applicant’s lawyer did not immediately respond to Associated Press when he sent an email and sent an email message asking for comments.
Alves’s trial was the first high profile case since Spain reviewed its laws in 2022 to make consent central to define a sexual crime in response to an increase in protests after a case of group rape during the Running Bull-Running Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona in 2016.
Legislation popularly known as the Law of “only does it mean yes” Define consent as an explicit expression of a person’s will, making it clear that silence or passivity is not equal to consent.
But the four judges of a Court of Appeals based in Barcelona unanimously ruled to revoke the conviction after reviewing the evidence and testimonies granted to the lower court. In their ruling, they wrote that the testimony of the plaintiff “differ significantly” from the evidence of video images taken before the woman and Alves entered the bathroom where she said that she forced her to have sex without her consent.
Before last year’s trial, the alleged victim told state prosecutors that she had danced with Alves in the nightclub and voluntarily entered the bathroom, but that she later wanted to leave, he would not leave her. She said she slapped her, insulted her and forced her to have sex against her will.
Alves He denied those accusations In the three -day trial.
“She never told me to stop. We were both enjoying ourselves,” Alves said, while repeating that the woman never asked to leave or indicate that she did not want to have sex with him. He also denied having slapped or insulted.
Alves, now 41 years old, remained in jail from January 20, 2023 until March 2024 until he was released after paying 1 million euros (then $ 1.2 million) for bail while waiting for his appeal. He also delivered his passports, and the prosecutors had argued against freeing him on bail due to a possible flight risk.
Prosecutors wanted their prison sentence to increase to nine years, while the victim’s lawyer wanted him to stay behind bars for 12 years.
This decision could be appealed to the Spanish Supreme Court in Madrid.
Alves was one of the most successful players in his generation and won dozens of titles with elite clubs, including Barcelona, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain. It also helped Brazil win two Americas and an Olympic gold medal at age 38. He played in his third World Cup, the only important title he has not won, in 2022. He played for Barcelona since 2008-16, helping the team win three low champions and six Spanish leagues, and briefly joined the club in 2022. He still has a residence near the city.
He was with the Mexican club Pumas when he was arrested. Pumas terminated his contract immediately.
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