Spain: footballer Dani Alves tried for rape in Barcelona
The trial of Brazilian footballer Dani Alves for rape begins this Monday, February 5, 2024 in Barcelona. The ex-international risks up to 12 years in prison.
Brazilian footballer Dani Alves is accused of rape and his trial opens Monday February 5, 2024 in Barcelona. © ULISES RUIZ / AFP
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Dani Alves, the former Barça and PSG star, is on trial this Monday in Barcelona for alleged rape of a young woman in Sutton, a nightclub in the Catalan capital on December 30, 2022. The trial is scheduled to last three days and around thirty witnesses will be called to the stand. The prosecution – which requires before the trial in Spain – is demanding nine years in prison against him as well as the payment of 150,000 euros to the young woman and ten years of supervised release at the end of her incarceration.
Placed in pre-trial detention for a year, the former footballer has changed his version of the facts up to five times, reports our correspondent in Barcelona,
Elise Gazengel
. He initially denied having met the girl, but, overwhelmed by the physical evidence, he now claims that the relationship was consensual and that he was intoxicated. The victim, who was 21 at the time of the incident, claims that he slapped her and locked her in the toilets of the VIP area of the nightclub before raping her.
Spanish justice has repeatedly opposed the release of Dani Alves pending his trial, highlighting a “
high risk of flight
” of the player to Brazil, a country which generally does not extradite its nationals.
THE "
trial of the year”
in Spain
THE "
trial of the year"
, as it is called in
Spain
, will not be held behind closed doors, with the exception of the hearing of the plaintiff. In order to guarantee her protection, she will not have her identity revealed and will not have to be “visually confronted with the accused” either. Last month, her lawyer filed a complaint against the publication by Dani Alves' mother of a video showing images of her client.
Feminist associations believe that this trial will make it possible to assess the response of Spanish justice to violence against women.
In Spain, an agreement remains possible until the start of the trial between the accused, the complainant and the prosecution, within the framework of which Alves could theoretically admit his guilt in exchange for a reduction in the required sentence and compensation of the victim. At the end of November, the plaintiff's lawyer admitted the existence of "
conversations
" initiated at the request of the player's advice, but which had not made it possible to reach any "
any agreement
".
One of the most successful footballers in history, Dani Alves enjoyed the most glorious period of his career at Barça, between 2008 and 2016, where he won 23 trophies. Upon his indictment, announced in January last year, he was fired by the Mexican club Pumas where he was under contract until the end of last season.
Read alsoArrest of footballer Dani Alves in Spain: anti-sexual assault protocols in action
(And with
AFP
)
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