The Catalan Prosecutor’s Workplace has introduced its plans to attraction the acquittal of former Dani Alves, the Brazilian soccer star who was cleared of rape expenses final week.
In a landmark second on Friday, a Spanish court docket of attraction acknowledged there was “inadequate proof” to rule out Alves’ presumption of innocence.
The choice got here greater than a yr after a February 2024 ruling discovered the Barcelona defender responsible of getting raped a girl in a nightclub bathroom again in December 2022.
“Dani Alves is harmless, and that has been confirmed,” his defence lawyer Inés Guardiola advised Catalan radio RAC1. “Justice has lastly been served.”
Though Spanish state prosecutors plan to attraction, for the case to achieve one other court docket, the Supreme Courtroom in Madrid should comply with assessment the choice to acquit Alves.
Forward of final yr’s trial, the alleged sufferer of the nightclub incident advised state prosecutors she had danced with Alves at a nightclub earlier than willingly getting into the bogs with him.
She claimed that when she determined to depart the bogs, he didn’t let her, then slapped her, insulted her and compelled her to have intercourse with him towards her will.
Alves, who was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in jail eventually yr’s three-day trial, has persistently denied any wrongdoing.
Whereas the case itself has lasted greater than three years, the participant has spent a complete of 14 months in jail.
The Alves trial was the primary high-profile case in Spain for the reason that nation’s rape legal guidelines had been overhauled in 2022 to oblige defendants to show they’d obtained sexual consent from accusers and get rid of a distinction between sexual crimes.
The measure was launched after the 2016 gang rape of an 18-year-old girl on the San Fermin bull-running competition in Pamplona. The so-called “wolf pack” of males who filmed themselves attacking her had been initially convicted of a lesser offence earlier than the Supreme Courtroom ultimately upgraded their sentences.
The unique verdict sparked nationwide protests.
