Dani Alves, a former player for Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus and the Brazilian national football team, was sentenced last month to four and a half years in prison for raping a 23-year-old woman in 2022 in a nightclub in Barcelona.
A judge ruled last week that the footballer, who had been in pre-trial detention for 14 months, could await the decision of the appeal he presented in freedom as long as he paid one million euros in security, an amount he deposited today in the accounts of the 21st section of the Barcelona Court, according to a statement this Monday from the judicial authorities.
Dani Alves had his Spanish and Brazilian passports confiscated and cannot leave Spain, and is also required to present himself weekly to the judicial authorities in Barcelona, according to the same decision as last week.
The footballer left the prison building where he was being held today, in the Barcelona region, at around 4:25 pm local time (3:25 pm in Lisbon), in a moment broadcast live on television and other Spanish media platforms.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office had filed an appeal on Friday against the decision to release the footballer as it considered that the reasons for which he was placed in preventive detention in January 2023 still remain.
“There is a high risk of flight, which we understand cannot be mitigated with the alternative measures envisaged”, argued the Barcelona Public Prosecutor’s Office, who argued that Dani Alves has a “lack of roots” in Spain and Brazil “does not extradite nationals in crimes of sexual assault.”
Furthermore, “given his high economic capacity”, the risk of flight “is not mitigated by posting bail”, added the prosecutors.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office also recalled that Dani Alves’ appeals are yet to be decided, but also those of the prosecutors who have the case and there may be a review of the sentence, with the footballer facing a “criminal horizon” of up to 12 years in prison.
In this context, the Public Prosecutor’s Office argued that preventive detention should have been extended to half the sentence imposed in the first sentence, that is, two years and three months.
