A high court in Spain’s Catalonia region overturned the rape conviction of Brazilian soccer player Dani Alves on Friday, March 28th, citing significant inconsistencies and contradictions in the evidence presented against him. Alves had been sentenced to 4.5 years in prison last year for the 2022 incident.
The Catalan high court, in its appeal ruling, stated that the accuser’s testimony “lacked reliability” when compared with facts that could be objectively verified through video evidence, “explicitly indicating that what she recounted does not correspond to reality.”
The court concluded that “the standard required by the presumption of innocence has not been met” due to “a series of gaps, inaccuracies, inconsistencies and contradictions concerning the facts, the legal assessment and its consequences.”
Specifically, the court questioned the reasonableness of the accuser’s argument for entering the nightclub restroom where the incident occurred, suggesting she “voluntarily went to the bathroom area for the purpose of being with the defendant in a more intimate space.”
The ruling also noted that CCTV footage did not definitively establish whether consent was given for the subsequent interaction.
“Dani Alves is very happy. He is innocent, that is demonstrated. Justice has spoken,” Alves’s lawyer, Ines Guardiola, told RAC1 radio.
Alves, 41, a former star for Barcelona, PSG, and Juventus, had already been released from prison on a €1 million ($1.1 million) bail while awaiting the appeal outcome. Following Friday’s ruling, the court lifted all remaining restrictions against him, including a travel ban and restraining order.
The requirement to pay compensation is also expected to be nullified.
Ester Garcia, the lawyer representing the accuser, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The regional prosecutor’s office also declined to comment.
The decision by the Catalan high court can still be appealed to Spain’s Supreme Court.
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