The Spanish Prosecutor's Office will appeal the acquittal of former football player Dani Alves in the rape case
Kyiv • UNN
The prosecutor's office will appeal the court's decision to overturn Dani Alves' rape conviction. The court of Catalonia acquitted the football player, citing insufficient evidence.
The Court of Catalonia has acquitted former Barcelona footballer Dani Alves, who was accused of sexual assault and sentenced to 4.5 years in prison. The prosecutor's office intends to appeal this decision, UNN writes with reference to AFP News Agency.
Details
Earlier it was reported that the former defender of "Barcelona" and the Brazilian national team spent more than a year in pre-trial detention on charges of raping a young woman in the toilet of one of Barcelona's nightclubs.
The appellate chamber of the court, consisting of three women and one man, decided that the testimony of the alleged victim was not enough to approve the verdict, stressing that it contained "assessment flaws that do not allow to separate the assessment of the court of first instance and the conclusion it reached." The appellate chamber gave preference to the defendant's right to presumption.
First court decision
The High Court of Barcelona considered it proven that Alves had sexual relations without the consent of a young woman. At the same time, the court relied on her testimony. The woman stated that she was invited to a private room at a disco on December 30, 2022. The ex-footballer spent more than a year in custody after which he was released after posting bail of one million euros.
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Despite the initial guilty verdict, the Barcelona Court of Appeal drew attention to some inconsistencies in the testimony of the potential victim. In particular, the woman stated that she felt uncomfortable with the Brazilian footballer and that he took her to the toilet. However, CCTV footage from the club shows that there was a prior agreement between them to go to the toilet in sequence.
The judges argued that this "inconsistency" in the testimony did not affect the substance of the rape allegation and did not lead to a complete rejection of her version of events.
However, the Court of Catalonia reviewed the matter and concluded that the lack of consistency in the first part of the victim's testimony casts doubt on the veracity of her account of the events that took place in the toilet of the disco, where there were no cameras or witnesses.
The text of the appellate court's decision states that "on the basis of the evidence, it cannot be concluded that the norms provided by the presumption of innocence have been exceeded." The court also recalled that guilty verdicts require a "higher standard of argumentation." The judges unanimously decided that the verdict could not be upheld due to insufficient evidence.