Dani Alves rape conviction overturned by Spanish court, judges question testimony and evidence

Former Barcelona defender Dani Alves won his appeal against a sexual assault conviction on Friday, as a court in Spain overturned the ruling. The Brazilian was found guilty in February 2024 of raping a woman in a nightclub in December 2022.

Alves was sentenced to four years, six months in prison, and he denied wrongdoing in the three-day trial. His defence lawyer Ines Guardiola told Catalan radio RAC1, “Dani Alves is innocent, and that has been proven.”

“Justice has finally been served,” he added.

The trial was a high-profile case and probably the first in Spain in this category since the country changed its laws in 2022 to make consent central in a sex crime, after an infamous gang-rape case during the San Fermin bull-running festival in Pamplona in 2016.

The overhauled legislation labels consent as an explicit expression of a person’s will, making it clear that silence or passivity are not consent. But the four judges unanimously ruled to overturn the conviction after reviewing the evidence and testimonies provided to the lower court. The judges wrote in their ruling that the testimony of the plaintiff was different from the evidence of the video taken before the woman and Alves went to the washroom, where he allegedly forced her to have sex without consent.

Alves told prosecutors at the three-day trial, “She never told me to stop. We were both enjoying ourselves.”

For how long was Dani Alves in jail?

One of the most decorated players in football history, Alves was in jail from January 20, 2023, until March 2024. He was released after paying 1.2 million USD for bail while awaiting his appeal. He also gave away his passports, with prosecutors not wanting him to given bail due to flight risk.

Also, prosecutors wanted his prison sentence to rise to nine years, and the victim’s lawyer wanted him to remain in jail for 12 years. The decision could be appealed to the Spanish Supreme Court in Madrid.