Dani Alves did not escape his conviction for sexual abuse

Daniel Alves He had been in jail for 13 months waiting to hear his sentence for sexual assault of a woman. Alves believed that the ruling would be in his favor, that he would be free and perhaps return to his life as a footballer or an eccentric ex-footballer, but justice was not fooled: “Guilty,” they told him in court this Thursday, dismissing his desperate attempts to defense and its multiple and contradictory versions of what happened on the night of December 30 to 31, 2022, in the bathroom of a booth at the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona.

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Alves was a soccer star. He played in those days for the Pumas of Mexico. He was recognized for his performances in Barcelona and in the Brazilian National Team, with which he competed in the World Cup in Qatar at the age of 39. Accustomed to controversy, he fell into the harshest of his life when he was found guilty of rape. The court imposed a sentence of four years and six months in prison, five additional years of supervised release, an order restraining the victim for nine years and compensation of 150,000 euros, money that helped reduce the sentence by half, as reparation for the psychological and moral damage to the woman, and was recorded before the sentencing.

The Alves case

Alves defended himself, but each of his defenses made it more complicated. He had contradictory versions that cornered him. He first denied the accusation, then said that he did not know the young woman, he ended up accepting that they had relations, but insisted that they were consensual. He said that the victim pounced on him, that he was drunk, that she could leave whenever she wanted… Her trial, which took place between February 5 and 7, was a media bomb: the world, attentive to the outcome. The woman cried out for justice, and he defended himself.

According to the Prosecutor's indictment, the events occurred in a reserved area of ​​the premises where the athlete, who was with a friend, would have coincided with the woman, who was accompanied by a cousin and a friend. After inviting them to champagne, Alves would have invited the young woman to enter another exclusive area where the small bathroom was, which she did not know about.

From then on, their versions differed, but the magistrates considered it proven that, once inside, “The accused suddenly grabbed the complainant, threw her to the ground and, preventing her from moving, penetrated her vaginally, even though the complainant said no, she wanted to leave.” The court recognized the “coherent and especially persistent” story of the victim during the process and based its decision on evidence such as the injuries she presented, which “make the existence of violence to force her will more than evident.”

However, the case continues: the lawyer of the former Barça player, Ines Guardiola, announced that he will appeal the sentence and in the coming days he will ask for the athlete's freedom, understanding that with the sentence handed down, less than the sentences of 9 and 12 years requested by the Prosecutor's Office and the private prosecution, the high risk of escape has disappeared.

Furthermore, according to press reports in Spain, the sentence could be reduced for good behavior and Alves could even benefit from the Spanish law that would allow him to go out on the streets for the first time starting on July 20, 2024 in the case of May justice grant him the so-called 'third degree'. To do this, he has to meet a series of requirements such as serving part of the sentence, a third or half of it, showing good behavior, supporting family and social roots, and not having a high risk of flight.

This last factor could prevent his departure, given that he could go to Brazil, a country that does not have an extradition agreement with Spain. Meanwhile, on Saturday it became known that the Spanish Treasury must return 1.2 million euros to Alves, capital that his defense wants to present as a guarantee for bail to request the player's provisional release until the sentence for sexual assault is final.

Prison life

Alves entered prison on January 20, 2023. He first spent a few days in Brians I prison and then was transferred to Brians II, a prison that has a capacity for 1,500 people. He has spent the last year there. Since his entry, few details have been known about his life in confinement, but some information has emerged, such as that Alves spent his time playing soccer. In May of last year, an inmate told a Spanish media that there are “prisoners who have no mercy” towards the former player and that insults towards him are recurring. In the last week, Alves' cellmate said that the footballer had told him on several occasions of his intention to go to Brazil as soon as he obtained provisional freedom.

Meanwhile, his private life also had an impact on the public stage, due to his relationship with Joana Sanz. Sanz, it was learned, asked for a divorce, but then ended up standing firmly by her side. She was one of the few people who went to visit him, and with whom she corresponded. She even published by mistake on her networks a letter that Alves sent her in which she insisted on her love for him.

Another person involved was the footballer Neymar, due to the financial support that his family would have given him Alves, who has his bank accounts frozen. Press versions in Brazil claim that the 150,000 euros paid to the victim came from the Neymars.

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