Dani Alves, one of essentially the most profitable soccer gamers of his era, was found guilty of raping a girl in a Barcelona nightclub and sentenced to four years and six months in prison on Thursday.
The former Brazil and Barcelona proper again was convicted in Spain beneath a new sexual liberty legislation that emphasizes the shortage of consent of the sufferer as key to figuring out intercourse crimes.
A 3-judge panel on the Barcelona Provincial Court convicted the 40-year-old Alves of sexual assault for the incident on December 31, 2022.
The court docket ordered Alves to pay €150,000 ($162,000) in compensation to the sufferer, banned him from approaching the sufferer’s residence or place of work, and from speaking together with her by any means for 9 years.
“I still believe in the innocence of Mr. Alves,” Inés Guardiola, Alves’ lawyer, mentioned. “I need to study the ruling, but I can tell you that of course we will appeal.”
Guardiola mentioned Alves was “calm and collected” when he heard the verdict in court.
“We are satisfied,” David Sáenz, a member of the victim’s legal team, said, “because this verdict recognizes what we have always known, that the victim told the truth and that she has suffered.”
The victim’s lawyer, Ester García, said on Wednesday she and her client would not be present for the verdict.
The victim said Alves raped her in the bathroom of a Barcelona nightclub on the morning of Dec. 31, 2022. The court considered it proven that the victim did not consent to sex and there was evidence, in addition to the defendant’s testimony, that she was raped.
Alves denied during the three-day trial this month that he raped the woman, testifying to the court “I am not that kind of man.”
State prosecutors had sought a nine-year prison sentence for Alves whereas the legal professionals representing his accuser needed 12 years. His protection requested for his acquittal, or if found guilty a one-year sentence plus 50,000 euros compensation for the sufferer.
The sentence of four years and six months is close to the bottom sentence for a rape conviction, which when the rape happened was penalized by four to 12 years beneath Spanish legislation. That has since been modified to six to 12 years. The court docket in its sentence mentioned it thought-about favorably for Alves that he had “before the trial paid the court 150,000 euros to be given to the victim without any conditions attached.”
Sáenz mentioned his authorized group didn’t agree with the appliance of the extenuating circumstance, saying the cash didn’t compensate the hurt executed to their consumer. During the trial, medical consultants testified she was affected by post-traumatic stress.
“Clearly (it does not compensate), but that is what the court decided,” Sáenz mentioned. “We have to examine the sentence to see if its contents are adequate for his acts.”
The state prosecutor’s workplace mentioned it’ll examine the decision and take into account whether or not to enchantment.
Spain Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz mentioned she hoped the decision “serves as an exemplary measure for all the sexist behaviors that women suffer in all areas of our lives.”
The Alves case was the primary high-profile intercourse crime since Spain overhauled its laws in 2022 to make consent central to defining a intercourse crime in response to an upswell of protests after a gang-rape case in the course of the San Fermin bull-running pageant in Pamplona in 2016.
The laws popularly often called the “only yes means yes” legislation defines consent as an specific expression of a individual’s will, making it clear that silence or passivity don’t equal consent. The legislation, nevertheless, initially led to lowered sentences for a whole bunch of intercourse offenders as a result of it arrange decrease minimal sentences, just like the one utilized to Alves, earlier than being reformed.
Irene Montero, the previous equality minister who championed the “only yes means yes” law, welcomed the ruling.
“The sentence against Dani Alves clearly establishes that he committed sexual assault because the victim did not consent. It is the result of the feminist fight for the right to sexual freedom and for putting consent at the center,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Guardiola based her defense during the trial on video from the nightclub security cameras that she said showed how the woman danced “with sexualized movements” that “showed her interest” in Alves earlier than the alleged assault.
García, the sufferer’s lawyer, mentioned on the shut of the trial that the brand new legislation made it irrelevant how her consumer might have behaved with Alves beforehand.
“I don’t care (how she was dancing), when she said ‘No’, that meant ‘No.’ That is why the law was changed,” García mentioned. “The debate is no longer whether the victim put up resistance.”
Alves has been in jail since being detained on Jan. 20, 2023. His requests for bail have been denied as a result of the court docket thought-about him a flight danger. Brazil doesn’t extradite its personal residents when they’re sentenced in different nations.
The sufferer instructed state prosecutors she danced with Alves and willingly entered the nightclub lavatory, however that later when she needed to go away he wouldn’t let her. She mentioned he slapped her, insulted her and compelled her to have sexual relations in opposition to her will.
A police officer who testified in the course of the trial mentioned the sufferer had to overcome her fears that “nobody would believe her” earlier than she formally accused Alves. Another officer mentioned the lady instructed him “I don’t want money, I want justice.”
Alves modified his protection in the course of the investigative section whereas in custody, first denying any sexual contact together with her earlier than admitting to sexual relations that he mentioned have been consensual. He mentioned he had been attempting to save his marriage by not admitting to the encounter initially.
During the trial, his protection centered on attempting to present that Alves was drunk when he met the lady. The court docket, nevertheless, didn’t take into account that an extenuating circumstance in its ruling.
His conviction shatters Alves’ legacy as one of soccer’s most profitable gamers.
Alves gained dozens of titles with elite golf equipment together with Barcelona, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain. He additionally helped Brazil win two Copa Americas and an Olympic gold medal at age 38. He performed at his third World Cup, the one main title he hasn’t gained, in 2022. He performed for Barcelona from 2008-16, serving to to win three Champions Leagues and six Spanish leagues, and briefly rejoined the membership in 2022. He nonetheless has a residence close to town.
He was with Mexican membership Pumas when he was arrested. Pumas terminated his contract instantly.
Three days after his arrest, Alves was transferred by officers for security causes to the Brians 2 prison about 45 minutes northwest of Barcelona. He has been there ever since.
