Ex-Barcelona star Dani Alves acquitted of sexual assault charge

On Friday, Dani Alves was acquitted of the sexual assault charge for which he had been sentenced to four years and six months in prison. The Appeals Court of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia upheld the appeal filed by the Brazilian's lawyers, thereby annulling the conviction.

The criminal chamber of the high court, composed of three women and one man, unanimously accepted the appeal and, in its ruling, pointed out the "lack of reliability" in the complainant's testimony. Due to the "insufficient evidence" and based on the principle of the presumption of innocence, the court decided to overturn the sentence imposed on February 22, 2024.

Over a year ago, the Barcelona Court found it proven that Dani Alves had engaged in non-consensual sexual intercourse with a young woman, allegedly forcing her into the toilets of the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona on December 30, 2022. During the proceedings, the former Barcelona player spent one year and two months in pretrial detention, though he was granted release on bail after paying one million euros while awaiting a final sentence.

Dani Alves' defence relied on a section of the ruling where the Barcelona Court noted a "discrepancy" in the victim's account. According to her, she felt uncomfortable, yet Alves still took her to the bathroom. However, the security camera footage suggested a "prior agreement" to go one after the other. Despite this, the judge deemed it insufficient to discredit "the credibility of the account of the non-consensual vaginal penetration."

Following the 41-year-old footballer's appeal, the TSJC concluded that the young woman's testimony was not sufficient to deny Dani Alves the presumption of innocence. The members of the court considered that the discrepancy undermined the credibility of the account regarding what occurred when there were no cameras or witnesses present. The ruling mentioned "a series of gaps, imprecisions, inconsistencies and contradictions in the account of the facts" within the conviction of the Brazilian.

Thus, the appeals court, composed of Maria Angels Vivas, Roser Bach, Maria Jesus Manzano and Manuel Alvarez, also dismissed the appeals from the prosecution, which had sought to increase the former player's sentence from four years and six months to up to nine years in prison.