Spanish court hands Dani Alves 4.5-year prison sentence over sexual assault

Record ID: 1767742

  • Title: Spanish court hands Dani Alves 4.5-year prison sentence over sexual assault
  • Date: 22nd February 2024
  • Summary: BARCELONA, SPAIN (FEBRUARY 22, 2024) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF CATALAN COURT HOUSE POLICE OFFICERS OUTSIDE COURT VARIOUS OF DANIEL ALVES LAWYER INES GUARDIOLA ARRIVING AT COURT VARIOUS OF MEDIA OUTSIDE COURT VICTIM'S LAWYER DAVID SAENZ WALKING OUTSIDE COURT (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VICTIM'S LAWYER DAVID SAENZ SAYING: "We are satisfied because the sentence recognises what we have always said: that the victim was saying what she suffered had taken place. We are satisfied and happy for her and for the rest of them (women). We have to review whether the full content of the sentence, the severity of the penalty, is in line with the seriousness of the facts". MEDIA OUTSIDE COURT (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VICTIM'S LAWYER DAVID SAENZ SAYING ABOUT ALVES REQUESTING NOT TO BE IMPRISONED: "I have nothing to do with this, we don't have knowledge of any freedom requests so we'll leave it here and in a few days we can speak much more about it." SAENZ LEAVING
  • Embargoed: 7th March 2024 09:48
  • Keywords: Catalonia Daniel Alves Spain court sexual assault
  • Location: BARCELONA, SPAIN
  • City: BARCELONA, SPAIN
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: Europe,Soccer,Sport
  • Reuters ID: LVA001255122022024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Brazilian footballer Dani Alves was sentenced to four and a half years in prison on Thursday (February 22) for sexually assaulting a woman in a Barcelona nightclub in 2022.
    The top court in Spain's Catalonia region also ordered Alves, who had maintained throughout that the sex was consensual, to pay 150,000 euros ($163,000) to the victim.
    "The sentence considers that it has been proven that the victim did not consent, and that there is evidence, in addition to the testimony of the plaintiff, to consider the rape proven," the court - the Audiencia Provincial de Barcelona - said in a statement.
    The prosecutor had sought a nine-year prison term for Alves. The verdict can be appealed.
    The 40-year-old former Barcelona defender was arrested in January last year and has been held on remand since then.
    The case has attracted significant attention not only because of Alves' profile but because gender violence has become an increasingly dominant topic in Spain's public discourse.
    It has been one of the most high-profile trials in Spain since a law was passed in 2022 that made consent a key element in sexual assault cases and that increased the minimum prison time for assaults involving violence.
    "We are satisfied as the sentence recognises what we've been saying all along: that the victim was telling the truth and that she suffered," lawyer David Saenz told reporters outside the courthouse, adding that his team would still analyse whether the sentence corresponds to the gravity of the crime.
    Alves won more than 40 trophies for Brazil and clubs including Barcelona, Sevilla, Juventus and Paris St Germain. Following his arrest, he was fired by Mexico's Pumas UNAM.
    (Production: Horaci Garcia, Miguel Gutierrez)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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