Cristina Rubio Barcelona

Barcelona

Updated Friday, February 23, 2024-02:08

  • Sentence The 'yes means yes' law saves Alves a minimum of a year and a half in prison

  • Forensic report "Alves knew what was happening"

  • Alves denies rape "He didn't tell me he wanted to stop"

Dani Alves was admitted to

Brians 2

prison

on January 20, 2023, just

13 months

ago , accused of raping a young woman in the bathroom of the private room of the

Sutton

nightclub in Barcelona.

In provisional prison since then, the former footballer reappeared in the tiny room of section 21 of the

Barcelona Court

on February 5, the day of the start of the oral hearing at the Palace of Justice in the Catalan capital.

And he did so after having requested his provisional release on several occasions during the year in which he remained awaiting trial, a claim denied by the judge due to flight risk.

The same

request for provisional release

pending the ruling was put back on the table by his lawyer,

Inés Guardiola

, on the last day before the court just before the case was to be heard for sentencing.

And yesterday, as soon as the sentence of four and a half years in prison for rape was announced, the lawyer confirmed that she will appeal - "I continue to believe and defend the innocence of Mr. Alves" - and said that she will go "to the end."

"Until the end"

Therefore, Guardiola will present the appeal before the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC)

within a period of 10 days

.

And in this process, the lawyer can once again request provisional release for Alves - as she already did on the last day of the trial - while waiting for the resolution of the appeal to be known, which could take several months after going through the Supreme Court.

In fact, the same sentence released this Thursday already contemplates that, once the appeal is presented, "your personal situation will be assessed again."

This is the only way for Alves to achieve his immediate release after the ruling, a possibility that gains momentum given the minimum sentence to which the Brazilian has been sentenced: the former footballer is about to serve a third of the sentence in prison - in a few weeks,

in May 2024

-, the deadline required to request permits or even the third degree and be able to leave prison for a few hours.

However, the Brazilian cannot opt ​​for this or ask for permission as it is not a final sentence.

In the center and with a green coat, Alves' lawyer, Inés Guardiola

It must also be taken into account that a preventive prisoner like Alves cannot be in that situation for more than half of the time established by the sentence imposed on him in the first instance, in this case by the Barcelona Court.

Therefore, he should leave

in April 2025 (two years and three months later)

if the procedure, which will end up in the Supreme Court, has not been resolved.

Then, the Brazilian would spend half of the sentence in preventive detention and without being able to ask for permits, when a person with a final sentence can request them earlier.

A calendar that can mark the next episode of the Alves case as soon as his defense presents the corresponding appeal announced yesterday at the doors of the Palace of Justice.

"An exemplary sentence".... but "low"

Lawyer

Ester García

, who represents Alves's complainant, assured yesterday that her client is satisfied with Thursday's conviction.

"She started the procedure saying 'I don't want to report, they won't believe me', and her words upon receiving the sentence were 'Finally they believed me'. For me this is a personal success for her," García said in statements to journalists to assess the sentence that sentenced Alves to four and a half years in prison for sexual assault.

Asked if they will appeal the sentence, she indicated that she must discuss it with her client, but believes that "from a legal point of view it should be appealed."

Yes, he has criticized the mitigating circumstance for reparation of damage that the sentence has applied due to the 150,000 euros that Alves made as compensation before the trial, which he believes should not be applied: "We are a little concerned that the "the fact that people who may have a significant economic capacity may have their sentence reduced if they can contribute a significant amount."

"For me it is a low sentence, in this professional office many cases of sexual violence are handled and it is the lowest sentence we have had in more than 20 years," he concluded.