Dani Alves and his lawyer, Inés Guardiola, this Friday at the Barcelona Court to comply with their weekly appearance. Alejandro García (EFE)
Dani Alves' career in the elite of world football ended, without him knowing it at the time, on January 20, 2023. The Barcelona judge investigating the rape of a young woman at the Sutton nightclub sent him to provisional prison that day. Alves, who a month earlier and at the age of 39 had played in the Qatar World Cup defending the Brazil shirt, was a member of Pumas of Mexico, which unilaterally terminated his contract upon hearing the news of his imprisonment. His last game as a professional player was on January 8, against Juárez: he played the second half and contributed to his team's comeback (2-1) with an assist. Since then, he has only seen a ball in the yard of Brians 2 prison, where he has remained for the last 14 months.
But Alves has been, for two weeks, a free man. The Barcelona Court agreed to his provisional release, pending a final sentence, after sentencing him to four and a half years in prison as the perpetrator of the sexual assault. The former Barcelona defender verbalizes to those closest to him his intimate conviction that, sooner or later, he will be acquitted and will be able to restore his public image. And also that, over time, he will be able to continue working (although no longer as a player) in the world of football.
In these first days of freedom, Alves spends most of his hours at his house in Esplugues de Llobregat, where he lives with his wife, the model Joana Sanz. The house, which he bought during his time as a Barça defender for around five million euros, has now helped him register in Barcelona and prove his roots. The judges have taken this factor into account when concluding that the risk of escape - the reason why he was in provisional detention - had been mitigated. Alves could be free if he paid a bail of one million and agreed to remain in Spain and stay away from the victim, who according to those around him has experienced the player's departure as a “setback” in his recovery.
Isolated from the noise generated by his case, the footballer sporadically receives friends while he ruminates about his future. Although his assets are blocked in Brazil due to a dispute with his ex-wife, he has a more than generous financial cushion - he is one of the most successful footballers in history - and, in addition, he is receiving million-dollar returns in proceedings that he has won from the Agency. Tax. Alves, however, has been left without a job and without income. After the contract with Pumas, sponsorship and advertising contracts also fell, which brought in significant sums for image rights. Neither football clubs nor companies, he assumes, will return, and even less so after being convicted of sexual assault.
The concern for his future job runs parallel to the struggle he maintains to achieve, not only a reduction in the sentence, but an acquittal. He claims his innocence although justice, for now, says otherwise. The sentence handed down by the Barcelona Court considers it proven that Alves penetrated a 23-year-old girl without his consent and with “the use of violence” in the toilets of the Sutton VIP area.
The sentence was low (four and a half years) because the judges applied a mitigating measure of reparation for the damage after Alves paid the 150,000 euros in compensation that the Prosecutor's Office claimed for the moral damages caused to the victim. A reparation for the damage that generated criticism among experts and jurists because, they alleged, it not only had a class component—only someone with Alves' economic capacity can have access to making that payment—but because it had been purely monetary, that is, not There had been a real desire for reparation since the victim was attacked in the trial and throughout the process to undermine her credibility, in addition to her personal data being disseminated on social networks by Alves's entourage.
The judges gave credibility to the victim's testimony about the non-consensual penetration in the bathroom, but admitted that her account of the previous half hour, in the Sutton VIP area, does not correspond to what the security cameras show. The victim described a situation of fear and revulsion towards the footballer, when the images show a rapprochement and mutual interest.
Alves wants to use that crack to attack the sentence and requests, in the appeal that he has already presented before the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia, acquittal. “Barely between 10 and 20% of what was declared by the victim has been accepted as truthful,” states the defense, which is carried out by Inés Guardiola, the criminal lawyer who has achieved the player's desire to get out of prison. According to the lawyer, it is not so much that there are two conflicting and irreconcilable versions, but rather that the accused's story is "verified by means of evidence", such as the biological remains and the lophoscopic evidence (footprints) found inside the toilet.
Sculpture in tribute to Dani Alves in his hometown, Juazeiro, which a Brazilian activist has asked to remove. Rafael Martins (EFE)
The appeal against the sentence, almost 200 pages long, asks for the player's acquittal and points out that, beyond the competing stories, "the objective evidence ratifies Alves' version." Regarding the alleged use of violence, the document highlights that no injuries of any kind have been found, beyond a small wound on the knees that is compatible with the practice of fellatio: three hours after the events, DNA was found in the young girl's oral cavity.
Although there were no vaginal injuries, the sentence for the former player recalls that "for the existence of sexual assault it is not necessary that physical injuries occur, nor that there be evidence of heroic opposition from the victim to having sexual relations." The defense, however, insists on her argument, and considers that the position of the girl's fingerprints in the bathroom is also key, which according to the defense are incompatible with her version.
“Alves has been convicted with the statement of a complainant that is incompatible with scientific evidence,” concludes the defense. To the court, however, it was clear that the main issue, consent, did not occur. “There is no evidence,” the sentence added, that the victim “gave her consent” to the penetration; and even more so, he considered it proven that the player “subdued the will of the victim with the use of violence.”
The new sentence may still take between six months and a year to be handed down, and in the event of a new conviction, Alves could still appeal to the Supreme Court. While that happens, and if he continues to comply with his obligations, he will remain on provisional release. The player has already stated that he does not plan to leave and, although he wants to give public explanations, he remains silent at the direction of his lawyer. His silence contrasts with the noise that is generated around him, the same in Spain as in Brazil.
After the conviction, an activist asked to remove a sculpture of Alves erected in her hometown, Juazeiro, because it violates the “value and dignity of women.” There has also been no shortage of speculation and hoaxes, such as when it was stated that, after the trial, Alves had shown suicidal intentions and the protocol for these cases had to be activated. It is false, as it is also false, according to his entourage, that a Brazilian magazine paid, in exchange for an extensive report, the million euros in bail that allowed him to leave prison.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
Keep reading
I am already a subscriber
_