Dani Alves, probably the most profitable soccer gamers of his era, was discovered responsible of raping a girl in a Barcelona nightclub and sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in jail on Thursday.
The previous Brazil and Barcelona proper again was convicted in Spain beneath a brand new sexual liberty legislation that emphasizes the dearth of consent of the sufferer as key to figuring out intercourse crimes.
A 3-judge panel on the Barcelona Provincial Courtroom convicted the 40-year-old Alves of sexual assault for the incident on December 31, 2022.
The court docket ordered Alves to pay €150,000 ($162,000) in compensation to the sufferer, banned him from approaching the sufferer’s house or place of job, and from speaking together with her by any means for 9 years.
“I nonetheless consider within the innocence of Mr. Alves,” Inés Guardiola, Alves’ lawyer, mentioned. “I would like to review the ruling, however I can let you know that after all we are going to enchantment.”
Guardiola mentioned Alves was “calm and picked up” when he heard the decision in court docket.
“We’re glad,” David Sáenz, a member of the sufferer’s authorized workforce, mentioned, “as a result of this verdict acknowledges what now we have at all times recognized, that the sufferer advised the reality and that she has suffered.”
The sufferer’s lawyer, Ester García, mentioned on Wednesday she and her shopper wouldn’t be current for the decision.
The sufferer mentioned Alves raped her within the lavatory of a Barcelona nightclub on the morning of Dec. 31, 2022. The court docket thought-about it confirmed that the sufferer didn’t consent to intercourse and there was proof, along with the defendant’s testimony, that she was raped.
Alves denied in the course of the three-day trial this month that he raped the lady, testifying to the court docket “I’m not that type of man.”
State prosecutors had sought a nine-year jail sentence for Alves whereas the legal professionals representing his accuser wished 12 years. His protection requested for his acquittal, or if discovered responsible a one-year sentence plus 50,000 euros compensation for the sufferer.
The sentence of 4 years and 6 months is close to the bottom sentence for a rape conviction, which when the rape befell was penalized by 4 to 12 years beneath Spanish legislation. That has since been modified to 6 to 12 years. The court docket in its sentence mentioned it thought-about favorably for Alves that he had “earlier than the trial paid the court docket 150,000 euros to be given to the sufferer with none circumstances connected.”
Sáenz mentioned his authorized workforce didn’t agree with the appliance of the extenuating circumstance, saying the cash didn’t compensate the hurt carried out to their shopper. Throughout the trial, medical consultants testified she was affected by post-traumatic stress.
“Clearly (it doesn’t compensate), however that’s what the court docket determined,” Sáenz mentioned. “We now have to look at the sentence to see if its contents are satisfactory for his acts.”
The state prosecutor’s workplace mentioned it’s going to examine the decision and contemplate whether or not to enchantment.
Spain Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz mentioned she hoped the decision “serves as an exemplary measure for all of the sexist behaviors that girls endure in all areas of our lives.”
The Alves case was the primary high-profile intercourse crime since Spain overhauled its laws in 2022 to make consent central to defining a intercourse crime in response to an upswell of protests after a gang-rape case in the course of the San Fermin bull-running pageant in Pamplona in 2016.
The laws popularly generally known as the “solely sure means sure” legislation defines consent as an specific expression of an individual’s will, making it clear that silence or passivity don’t equal consent. The legislation, nevertheless, initially led to lowered sentences for a whole bunch of intercourse offenders as a result of it arrange decrease minimal sentences, just like the one utilized to Alves, earlier than being reformed.
Irene Montero, the previous equality minister who championed the “solely sure means sure” legislation, welcomed the ruling.
“The sentence in opposition to Dani Alves clearly establishes that he dedicated sexual assault as a result of the sufferer didn’t consent. It’s the results of the feminist struggle for the correct to sexual freedom and for placing consent on the heart,” she wrote on X, previously Twitter.
Guardiola primarily based her protection in the course of the trial on video from the nightclub safety cameras that she mentioned confirmed how the lady danced “with sexualized actions” that “confirmed her curiosity” in Alves earlier than the alleged assault.
García, the sufferer’s lawyer, mentioned on the shut of the trial that the brand new legislation made it irrelevant how her shopper could have behaved with Alves beforehand.
“I don’t care (how she was dancing), when she mentioned ‘No’, that meant ‘No.’ That’s the reason the legislation was modified,” García mentioned. “The controversy is now not whether or not the sufferer put up resistance.”
Alves has been in jail since being detained on Jan. 20, 2023. His requests for bail had been denied as a result of the court docket thought-about him a flight danger. Brazil doesn’t extradite its personal residents when they’re sentenced in different international locations.
The sufferer advised state prosecutors she danced with Alves and willingly entered the nightclub lavatory, however that later when she wished to depart he wouldn’t let her. She mentioned he slapped her, insulted her and compelled her to have sexual relations in opposition to her will.
A police officer who testified in the course of the trial mentioned the sufferer needed to overcome her fears that “no one would consider her” earlier than she formally accused Alves. One other officer mentioned the lady advised him “I don’t need cash, I would like justice.”
Alves modified his protection in the course of the investigative part whereas in custody, first denying any sexual contact together with her earlier than admitting to sexual relations that he mentioned had been consensual. He mentioned he had been making an attempt to avoid wasting his marriage by not admitting to the encounter initially.
Throughout the trial, his protection centered on making an attempt to indicate that Alves was drunk when he met the lady. The court docket, nevertheless, didn’t contemplate that an extenuating circumstance in its ruling.
His conviction shatters Alves’ legacy as certainly one of soccer’s most profitable gamers.
Alves received dozens of titles with elite golf equipment together with Barcelona, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain. He additionally helped Brazil win two Copa Americas and an Olympic gold medal at age 38. He performed at his third World Cup, the one main title he hasn’t received, in 2022. He performed for Barcelona from 2008-16, serving to to win three Champions Leagues and 6 Spanish leagues, and briefly rejoined the membership in 2022. He nonetheless has a residence close to town.
He was with Mexican membership Pumas when he was arrested. Pumas terminated his contract instantly.
Three days after his arrest, Alves was transferred by officers for security causes to the Brians 2 jail about 45 minutes northwest of Barcelona. He has been there ever since.
