Former Barcelona star Dani Alves has been sensationally cleared of raping a woman at a Catalan nightclub after appealing his four-year jail term.
The footballer was handed the sentence in February last year after three judges convicted him of the sex attack following a three-day trial.
Public prosecutors appealed and called for him to be jailed for nine years.
Private prosecutors acting on behalf of the complainant demanded he be jailed for 12 years after they also contested the original conviction and prison sentence.
Today the Catalan High Court rejected the appeals – and acquitted Alves of the crime he was convicted of last year.
The Catalan High Court ruling was announced in a 101-page written document.
It said: ‘It cannot be concluded that the limits of the presumption of innocence have been surpassed.’
Alves – has been on bail since March last year – said through his lawyer Ines Guardiola today in his first reaction to the news of his rape acquittal that he was ‘very happy.’
Former Barcelona star Dani Alves has been cleared on appeal of raping a woman at a Catalan nightclub. Pictured: Brazilian soccer player Dani Alves arrives at court after he was released from prison on bail in March 28, 2024
The footballer was handed a four and half year prison sentence in February last year after three judges convicted him of the sex attack following a three-day trial
Public prosecutors appealed and called for him to be jailed for nine years. Private prosecutors acting on behalf of the woman who accused him of raping her at Sutton Nightclub in Barcelona on January 30 2022 demanded he be jailed for 12 years after they also contested the original conviction and prison sentence
Ines Guardiola added: ‘Justice has finally been done.’
Telling Catalan radio station RAC-1 she was always confident he would be cleared, she added: ‘Of course this was what we were expecting.
‘Dani Alves is innocent and this has been shown. We are very happy and very excited.’
She said she had to continue reading through the 101-page document and had not yet decided whether she would be demanding compensation.
Prosecutors have a final appeal they can lodge – to Spain’s Supreme Court.
It was not immediately clear this morning if they will try to overturn it but they are expected to do so.
Dani Alves remains in Barcelona but will be given back his Spanish and Brazilian passports in the next few hours and will then be free to leave the country if he wants to.
He spent the morning with his lawyer and is understood to still be with her, going through the lengthy written sentence.
The footballer is not expected to release a full statement until he has done so.
Alves had to post one million euros (£850,000) bail to be allowed to leave prison – and agreed to hand in his passports as part of a ban on leaving Spain and sign on at court every Friday.
He ordered take-away hamburgers on his first night of freedom.
He protested his innocence on February 7 last year after taking the stand on the last day of his three-day trial, saying the sex he had with his 23-year-old female accuser was consensual and insisting he would never hurt anyone.
Alves – has been on bail since March last year – said through his lawyer Ines Guardiola today in his first reaction to the news of his rape acquittal that he was ‘very happy’
The woman he was found guilty of raping insisted he had forced himself on her after hitting her when she gave her evidence in court behind a screen.
The three original trial judges confirmed in a 61-page written ruling convicting him of the sex attack they had taken into account as a ‘mitigating factor’ his pre-payment of the 150,000 euros (£128,000) he was ordered to give his victim as compensation.
The appeal judges ruled Dani Alves’ accuser was an ‘unreliable complainant’ as shown by video evidence and the fact she denied a sexual act had taken place which had been corroborated ‘with very high probability’ by DNA tests.
They added: ‘It cannot be concluded that the standards required by the presumption of innocence have been met.
‘The trial court’s ruling uses the term credibility as a synonym for reliability in its analysis, and it is not.
‘Credibility corresponds to a subjective belief, which cannot be verified, associated with the person giving the statement. Reliability, on the other hand, pertains to the statement itself.’
The Catalan High Court of Justice issued a statement confirming Alves’ acquittal on appeal.
It stated the Appeals Section had ‘unanimously upheld the appeal of footballer Dani Alves’.
The court noted the original conviction contained ‘a series of gaps, inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and contradictions regarding the facts, the legal assessment, and its consequences’.
The statement also confirmed the court had dismissed appeals from both the prosecution and private prosecution seeking longer sentences.
The ruling effectively nullified all precautionary measures previously imposed on Alves.
Alves’ mother Lucia Alves, who attended his rape trial and caused controversy by naming and picturing her son’s female accuser in a social media post she later removed, reacted today on Instagram.
She posted a photo of the footballer with her and her husband and wrote: ‘Thank you my God for everything.’
Spain’s former Equality Minister Irene Montero, now an MEP for hard-left wing party Podemos, caused controversy with a tweet on X which led to accusations she hadn’t read the court acquittal decision properly.
It read: ‘The ruling that acquits Dani Alves alleging the victim isn’t credible is a clear example of institutional violence and patriarchal justice that leaves women unprotected and, as the UN says, maintains aggressors’ culture of impunity.
‘A thousand and one times: only ‘yes’ is ‘yes.’
Spanish government vice-president Maria Jesus Montero struck a more conciliatory tone, saying: ‘I’m going to be cautious because I haven’t read the ruling yet.
‘I would like to reiterate my solidarity with all victims of physical abuse or mistreatment who sometimes find themselves with a lot to deal with.’
Alves’ female accuser’s lawyer Ester Garcia said she wouldn’t be making any comment for the time being ‘out of respect for her client.’