Barcelona court rejects appeals and Dani Alves remains free

Former Brazilian international footballer Dani Alves will remain free pending the conclusion of appeals against the sentence of four and a half years in prison for the crime of rape, Barcelona Court announced on Wednesday.

The 21st section of the Barcelona Court rejected the appeal from the Provincial Prosecutor's Office of the Spanish city against the decision to release Dani Alves, who had been in pretrial detention for over a year and was released on March 25th upon posting a bail of one million euros.

The Barcelona Prosecutor's Office argued that the reasons for the pretrial detention imposed in January 2023 still applied, but the court decided that Dani Alves could await the outcome of the appeals in freedom, with the retention of his Brazilian and Spanish passports.

The Public Ministry, which also filed an appeal seeking an increase in the sentence, argued that pretrial detention should be extended until halfway through the sentence imposed in the February ruling, which would be two years and three months.

The newspaper As also mentions that the defender may enjoy up to two years of freedom because if his initial appeal is not accepted, he still has the possibility to file another one in the Spanish Supreme Court, which is expected to take that long to be reviewed.

It should be noted that despite the conviction, Dani Alves is not giving up on being acquitted and even aims to return to playing football. In contrast, the prosecution seeks to increase the player's sentence to nine years in prison, arguing that the "damage mitigation" he paid to the victim, amounting to 150,000 euros, should not be considered.

Alves was convicted of raping a woman in a nightclub bathroom in December 2022, although the former player of Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, and Juventus, among others, argued that the encounters were consensual, despite providing several versions.