BARCELONA-. After spending a year in a Spanish prison, the defender Brazilian Dani Alves will go on trial this week for allegedly sexually assaulting a young woman in a Barcelona nightclub.
Alves, formerly of Barcelona, is accused of sexually abusing a woman on the night of December 30, 2022. The 40-year-old player has pleaded not guilty by insisting that he had consensual relations with the accuser. The trial is scheduled from Monday to Wednesday in a court in Barcelona.
Prosecutors are seeking nine years in prison as a sentence for Alves if he is convicted, while lawyers representing his accuser are asking for 12 years.
The sexual consent law approved in Spain in 2022 includes a wide range of crimes under the term sexual assault, from online abuse and groping to rape, with different penalties. A conviction for rape can mean up to 15 years in prison.
Alves was arrested on January 20, 2023, after responding to a police summons during a visit to Spain. A court ordered his arrest after analyzing the initial police investigation and hearing the testimonies of the alleged victim, witnesses, and the player himself.
Alves’ bail applications were rejected because the court deemed him a flight risk, even though he offered to hand over his passport and use a tracking device. Brazil does not extradite its own citizens when they are sentenced in other countries.
Following his arrest, Alves denied any sexual contact with her, only to admit three months later to a sexual encounter, which he said was consensual by the woman. The Brazilian indicated that he was initially trying to save her marriage by not initially admitting to the sexual encounter.
In August, before being charged by an investigating judge, Alves’ lawyers tried unsuccessfully to discredit the testimony of his accuser and other witnesses by presenting images from the nightclub’s security cameras. The court indicated that any alleged flirtation should not “in any way justify an eventual sexual assault.”
After his accusation, Alves reportedly alleged that he was drunk as a mitigating circumstance.
Three days after his arrest, Alves was transferred for security reasons to Brians 2 prison, about 45 minutes northeast of Barcelona, where he has been since.
Alves has changed lawyers three times. At the trial he will be represented by Inés Guardiola, a defense specialist, whom he hired in October.
The alleged victim is represented by Ester García, a specialist in the prosecution of sexual crimes.
The trial will be before a panel of three judges chaired by Judge Isabel Delgado. Twenty-eight witnesses will give evidence between Monday and Tuesday, before the court hears from experts on Wednesday. On Monday the court will decide when Alves and his accuser will testify.
Source: AP
