Former Barcelona and Brazil international footballer Dani Alves has had his rape conviction annulled by the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia. The court ruled unanimously to overturn the verdict, citing inconsistencies and contradictions in the evidence presented during the initial trial.
Alves, 41, was initially sentenced in February 2024 to four and a half years in prison after being accused of sexually assaulting a 23-year-old woman at the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona on December 31, 2022. Throughout the legal proceedings, he maintained that the encounter had been consensual.
After spending 14 months in pre-trial detention, Alves was released in March 2024 upon paying €1 million in bail while awaiting the outcome of his appeal. The recent ruling by the appellate court determined that the testimony of the complainant lacked reliability and was not sufficiently supported by corroborative evidence, leading to the conviction being overturned.
The decision has sparked mixed reactions, with some legal experts raising concerns about its potential implications for future sexual assault cases. Magistrate Joaquim Bosch suggested that the ruling might "create spaces of impunity" and could lower the evidentiary standards required for securing convictions in similar cases.
Despite this development, the prosecution has the right to challenge the ruling by taking the case to the Supreme Court in Madrid. In the meantime, all travel restrictions imposed on Alves have been lifted, allowing him to leave Spain if he chooses.
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