Brazilian footballer Dani Alves at his trial in 2024. Photo: JORDI BORRAS
By David Latona, Emma Pinedo and Joan Faus, Reuters
The top court in Spain's Catalonia region on Saturday (local time) overturned Brazilian soccer player Dani Alves' rape conviction, saying the case against him had inconsistencies and contradictions.
The 41-year-old defender was convicted last year of raping a woman in the restroom of a Barcelona nightclub in 2022 and sentenced to four years six months in prison.
"Dani Alves is very happy. He is innocent, that is demonstrated. Justice has spoken," Ines Guardiola, lawyer for the former Barcelona, PSG and Juventus player, told RAC1 radio.
The case has gripped Spain where women's rights have become a highly sensitive national topic, especially in the sports world after the scandal over former soccer chief Luis Rubiales' unwanted kissing of national team player Jenni Hermoso in 2023.
In its unanimous appeal ruling, the four-judge Catalan high court said the accuser's testimony lacked reliability over facts that could be objectively verified through video, "explicitly indicating that what she recounted does not correspond to reality".
"The inadequacies of the evidence lead to the conclusion that the standard required by the presumption of innocence has not been met," it said, noting "a series of gaps, inaccuracies, inconsistencies and contradictions concerning the facts, the legal assessment and its consequences".
Alves had already been released from prison on a 1 million euro bail while awaiting the appeal. Now he is free to leave Spain after the court overturned a travel ban, restraining order and compensation payment.
The court said that the alleged victim's argument that she went with Alves into the restroom for fear that his friends might follow them did not appear reasonable, concluding that she instead "voluntarily went to the bathroom area for the purpose of being with the defendant in a more intimate space".
It added that CCTV footage did not allow any inference about whether she consented to the subsequent interaction or not.
Reactions
Neither the regional prosecutor's office nor the accuser's lawyer commented on the decision, which can still be appealed to Spain's Supreme Court in a last resort.
While some Spaniards said the judges should be trusted, others expressed disquiet with the ruling and its potential implications for women accusing men of power.
Justice Minister Felix Bolanos said the ruling must be respected and he could not separately assess facts already reviewed by judges. But he added: "Spanish society no longer tolerates sexist vexatious behaviour and women are losing their fear and denouncing it."
Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz, however, came out in solidarity with Alves' accuser. "All my support to the victim. I'm concerned about the re-victimisation of the victim, who is suffering a lot. Justice needs to walk hand in hand with women and provide certainty and security."
Irene Montero, who was Spain's equality minister when Alves was first indicted, criticised the ruling as "patriarchal justice." "Only yes means yes," she added, referring to a legal reform she spearheaded establishing the absence of consent as a main criterion for determining sex offences.
- Reuters
