"We will appeal", accuser's lawyer says after Dani Alves' rape conviction overturned

Record ID: 1986509

  • Title: "We will appeal", accuser's lawyer says after Dani Alves' rape conviction overturned
  • Date: 28th March 2025
  • Summary: BARCELONA, SPAIN (MARCH 28, 2025) (REUTERS) LAWYER REPRESENTING THE ACCUSER IN THE DANI ALVES SEXUAL ABUSE CASE, ESTER GARCIA, WALKING TOWARDS JOURNALISTS GARCIA SURROUNDED BY JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) LAWYER REPRESENTING THE ACCUSER IN THE DANI ALVES SEXUAL ABUSE CASE, ESTER GARCIA, SAYING: "Legally, we will file an appeal, of course. But we'll need to consider ho
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Barcelona Dani Alves LAWYER Spain court rape victim
  • Location: BARCELONA, SPAIN
  • City: BARCELONA, SPAIN
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Europe
  • Reuters ID: LVA001252528032025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The accuser's lawyer in the sexual abuse case against Brazilian soccer player Dani Alves said they planned to file an appeal after the top court in Spain's Catalonia region overturned Alves' rape conviction, but that the accuser's wellbeing was also being taken into consideration.
    The lawyer, Ester Garcia, told reporters outside her office in Barcelona on Friday (March 28) that the overturning of the conviction was, "a setback, both legally and socially, in the fight against sexual violence," which she said could lead to fewer women reporting sexual abuse.
    Garcia said she would appeal the decision before Spain's Supreme Court after the Catalonia court overturned the conviction earlier on Friday.
    The lawyer said the appeal could take about a year to be resolved and that the process has so far been emotionally taxing for her client due to the intense media attention surrounding the case.
    "Our client is very disappointed, sad, and in some way she feels like she was back in the bathroom stall where the incident occurred,” Garcia said.
    The 41-year-old soccer player was convicted last year of raping a woman in the restroom of a Barcelona nightclub in 2022 and sentenced to 4-1/2 years in prison.
    The case has gripped Spain where women's rights have become a highly sensitive national topic, especially in the sports world after the scandal over former soccer chief Luis Rubiales' unwanted kissing of national team player Jenni Hermoso in 2023.
    In its unanimous appeal ruling, the four-judge Catalan high court said the accuser's testimony lacked reliability over facts that could be objectively verified through video, "explicitly indicating that what she recounted does not correspond to reality."
    "The inadequacies of the evidence lead to the conclusion that the standard required by the presumption of innocence has not been met," it said, noting "a series of gaps, inaccuracies, inconsistencies and contradictions concerning the facts, the legal assessment and its consequences."
    The regional prosecutor's office declined to comment on the ruling.
    Alves had already been released from prison on a 1 million euro ($1.1 million) bail while awaiting the appeal. Now he is free to leave Spain after the court overturned a travel ban, restraining order and compensation payment.
    The court said the alleged victim's argument that she went with Alves into the restroom for fear that his friends might follow them did not appear reasonable, concluding that she instead "voluntarily went to the bathroom area for the purpose of being with the defendant in a more intimate space."
    It added that CCTV footage did not allow to infer whether she consented to the subsequent interaction or not.
    (Production: Horaci Garcia, Nacho Doce, Miguel Gutierrez)
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