The Spanish court decided today to release Brazilian soccer player Dani Alves on bail of one million euros and to hand over his passports while awaiting an appeal against his conviction for the rape of a young woman in Barcelona. Alves was sentenced in February to four and a half years in prison for raping a woman in a nightclub in Barcelona on December 31, 2022.
During the trial, Alves denied guilt and said that their meeting was consensual, while the woman testified that the footballer raped her in the toilet of a nightclub in Barcelona.
He has been in jail since his arrest last January. His previous requests to be released on bail were rejected because the court considered he was a flight risk. Brazil does not extradite its citizens who have been convicted abroad.
In order to be released now, Alves has to surrender his Brazilian and Spanish passports and is prohibited from leaving Spain, with a bail of one million euros. Both his defense attorney and the state prosecutor appealed against the conviction.
The defense is asking for an acquittal, and the prosecution is asking for the prison sentence to be increased to nine years. No date has been set for a new trial before the High Court in Barcelona. The case may also end up at the Supreme Court in Madrid.
Alves (40) is one of the most decorated players in history, during his career he won 42 titles, including three Champions Leagues with Barcelona and two Copa Américas with Brazil. He achieved his greatest success playing for Barcelona, with which he won 23 trophies from 2008 to 2016, Beta news agency writes.
