On Wednesday, a court in Barcelona approved the conditional release of… Brazilian footballer Dani Alves On bail of 1 million euros ($1.08 million), he has only served a quarter of his four-and-a-half-year sentence for rape.
Conditions for Alves’ release include giving up his Brazilian and Spanish passports so that he cannot leave Spain, in addition to requiring him to appear in court weekly or when summoned.
The court also imposed an order prohibiting Alves from approaching the victim for a distance of less than 1,000 meters (3,300 feet), imposing supervision on him for five years.
Alves’ case has received great attention not only because of the player’s fame, but also due to the growing attention paid by public opinion in Spain of violence against women.
‘Condemnation is not final’
The former Barcelona, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain defender was arrested in January last year in Barcelona and has been held in prison since then.
The Catalan Supreme Court convicted Alves on February 22 of last year ravishment In a toilet in a nightclub in Barcelona in 2022, she forced him to pay her 150,000 euros, and he filed an appeal against the ruling.
In the ruling, the court majority cited an article in the Spanish Constitution that affirms a person’s right to freedom, and said that the ruling replaces pretrial detention, because Alves’ conviction is not yet final.
The public prosecutor had asked for Dani Alves to be imprisoned for nine years, while the victim asked for 12 years, but in the end the court ordered him to be imprisoned for four and a half years.
“For me, it is a scandal that they allow someone who they know can get a million euros immediately, to become free,” the victim’s lawyer, Esther Garcia, told Catalunya Radio after the ruling.
“The justice system for the wealthy”
The court did not make the decision unanimously, as one of the three judges on the council had a different vote, and the decision can be challenged via appeal.
Garcia said she was “angry and dissatisfied” with the ruling, calling it “a justice system for the wealthy” and that she intends to appeal.
The court’s decision and the imposed bail were also met with criticism from the far-left Somare Party, the junior partner in The ruling coalition in Spain.
The party stated on the “X” social media platform: “Patriarchal justice and class-based discrimination. Enough is enough.” Alves’ lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.
This is one of the most prominent trials in Spain since a law was passed in 2022 that made consent an essential element in sexual assault cases and raised the minimum prison sentence.
Alves, who won more than 40 titles during his career, joined the Mexican club Pumas in 2022 with a monthly salary of about 300,000 euros. The club terminated Alves’ contract following his arrest.
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