Dani Alves signs Messi and Pujol's lawyer after his contradictory statement before the judge

Cristóbal Martell, considered one of Barcelona's "golden robes", has joined the defense of Dani Alves in the open case against the footballer for the alleged rape of a 23-year-old girl in the toilets of the Sutton VIP area , a nightclub in Barcelona.

Martell, a lawyer among many other clients of the Pujol family and also former Barça soccer player Leo Messi, has the mission of turning around a criminal process that has become very difficult for Alves, who remains in provisional prison after a statement before the judge chaotic and full of contradictions.

The signing of Martell has been announced by the lawyer who assisted the former Barça winger in that statement, Miraida Puentes Wilson, through a statement.

The goal, she says, is to "restore the honor and dignity" of Alves and "prove his innocence" of him.

The lawyer, who until now had remained silent, explains that her role was to "assist" both the Mossos d'Esquadra and the court in the investigation into the alleged sexual assault.

And she recalls that Alves "voluntarily" made himself available to the authorities despite the fact that he was in Mexico, where he was a member of the Pumas club, which terminated his contract after he was imprisoned.

"The development of events and the deprivation of liberty suffered," adds the statement, "lead to want to reinforce with a specialist in criminal law his defense in the process."

Puentes recalls that she herself has been a lawyer for Alves in different "companies and commercial activities" linked to the footballer.

Martell is a reference lawyer among criminal lawyers in Barcelona and has been a lawyer for countless VIP clients,

Alves has been in provisional prison since Friday due to risk of flight.

After spending three nights in the preventive prison of Catalonia (Brians 1), the Generalitat decided to transfer him on Monday to Brians 2, and in particular to module 13, intended mainly for inmates for crimes of sexual assault.

Alves' defense can present an appeal this week before the judge who decided to send him to prison (or before the Barcelona Court) to get out of jail.

The immediate objective of the defense is that the provisional detention measure be replaced by a less serious one, such as the withdrawal of the passport or the prohibition to leave Spain.

Alves' contradictions in his statement, where he offered up to three different versions as new evidence was exposed to him (images from security cameras, biological remains) were one of the reasons why the judge decided to imprison him.

The management of her defense was questioned by the family, who over the weekend contacted various lawyers to change their defense strategy.

The victim, on the other hand, offered a solid and coherent account to which both the prosecutor and the judge gave full credibility;

In her statement, she waived receiving financial compensation in case of conviction.