Former Barcelona and Brazil superstar Dani Alves asks for provisional release from prison and says ‘I won’t run away’ from his nightclub rape case while he awaits final sentencing

Former Brazil and Barcelona footballer Dani Alves has pleaded to be released from prison as he awaits his latest sentence for raping a woman in a Barcelona nightclub.

Alves, 40, who was sentenced last month to four and a half years in prison, said at a hearing on Tuesday morning: ‘I believe in justice. I’m not going to run away.’

His request for release from Brians 2 prison near Barcelona, ​​where he has been held since January last year, is being opposed by the public prosecutor’s office in Spain.

They argue that there is still a risk of flight given Alves’ wealth and the high sentence imposed. Marca reported.

Alves, who appeared via video link from prison, assured the court that he intends to see the case ‘to the end’ because he ‘believes in justice’.

Alves plans to appeal against the sentence he received last month. The court will soon make a decision on whether Alves will be released until his final sentence is confirmed.

Alves, one of history’s most decorated footballers, denied sexually assaulting the woman in the early hours of December 31, 2022.

He claimed he had consensual sex in a toilet at Barcelona’s posh Sutton nightclub with his 23-year-old female accuser.

The woman insisted the footballer forced himself on her after hitting her while she was giving evidence in court.

Prosecutors had pushed for a nine-year prison sentence and a lawyer acting for his victim had called for 12 years behind bars if convicted.

The three trial judges confirmed in a 61-page written ruling released after Alves heard his sentence at a closed-door hearing last month that they had taken into account his £128,000 (€150,000) advance payment as a “mitigating factor”. ) he was ordered to give his victim as compensation.

They concluded that she had danced with Alves before voluntarily going to a toilet next to Sutton’s VIP area where the footballer had entered moments earlier in what they described as an apparent ‘prior agreement’ to ‘engage with him in a more intimate to be space’.

But setting out what they said had been proven and had helped convict Alves, they added: ‘He attempted to penetrate his victim using his greater strength and throwing her to the ground and hitting her to knock your knee.

‘The victim asked Dani Alves to let her leave and made it clear that she wanted to get out of there, but he wouldn’t let her.

“When she found herself in that situation, in that small toilet with no way to leave because Mr. Alves was holding her back with the violent attitude he demonstrated, she felt shocked and unable to react properly or breathe given the situation of fear and terror. she experienced.’

They added about the toilet rape: ‘Using his physical strength and overcoming his victim’s resistance, Alves bent her over the toilet and raped his victim until he ejaculated inside her, without using a condom and without her permission.’

In a scathing attack on the footballer’s actions, they said that even if she had been intimate with Alves before voluntarily accompanying him to the toilet, it did not mean she said ‘yes’ to sex.

“It did not give him carte blanche to carry out the sex attack that occurred afterwards,” they stressed.

‘Consent during sex should always be given before or even during the practice of sex, in such a way that a person can consent to sexual relations up to a certain point and express resistance to continuing.’

David Saez, who attended the court as part of the rape victim’s defense team in place of her lead lawyer Ester Garcia, said: “We have to fully study the verdict, but we are satisfied because it is a conviction that recognizes what we have always known: the truth the victim told and the suffering she experienced.’

Dani Alves’ lawyer Ines Guardiola confirmed outside court after the footballer was jailed last month that she would appeal.

She said: “We are appealing the verdict and I still believe in Mr Alves’ innocence. He is doing well.’

‘It’s clear that four and a half years in prison is better than nine or 12 years and I have yet to read the full sentence, but I will appeal.’

In addition to the prison sentence and £128,000 (€150,000) in compensation, Alves was given a further five years’ parole and a nine-and-a-half year restraining order, preventing him from contacting his victim or going near her.

Alves, who became the oldest player to represent Brazil at the World Cup in Qatar in December 2022, went on trial last November.

It was initially reported that he was accused of putting his hands down a woman’s underwear in a toilet in the VIP area of ​​Sutton nightclub, before it emerged that his victim said she had been raped.

He was fired by Mexican side UNAM Pumas following his arrest early last year in Barcelona after flying back to the Catalan capital to attend his mother-in-law’s funeral.

He filed repeated bail applications after being in jail, but all were rejected. The judges said his victim’s version of events was coherent and pointed out that Alves had changed his story several times when evidence authorities came forward against him.

Alves claimed before his arrest that he never met his female accuser, but eventually returned after his arrest.

In an exclusive interview from prison last June with a Spanish TV reporter, he claimed: ‘The only person I have to ask for forgiveness is my wife.’

Police were called to the Sutton nightclub moments after Alves left with a male friend when his rape victim and two women she was with alerted security.

A friend who was with her told judges earlier this month that her boyfriend was “crying uncontrollably” after leaving the toilet and said Alves had “really hurt her”.

Alves denied during his trial that he had physically and sexually assaulted his victim, saying: ‘I’m not that type of man, I’m not violent.’

His ex-wife, Tenerife-born model Joana Sanz, gave evidence on his behalf and said he came home ‘very drunk’. His alcohol consumption that evening was not taken into account as a mitigating circumstance.

Alves said in a letter that Joana posted online shortly before today’s ruling and deleted seconds later, claiming she accidentally published the letter: “I pray every day that the day comes when I can see you wake up.”

In addition to two spells at Barcelona, ​​Alves played for Sevilla, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and Sao Paulo.

He is widely regarded as one of the greatest full-backs of all time.

Early in the year leading up to his conviction, his mother Lucia Alves caused controversy and opened herself up to future prosecution by naming and portraying her son’s victim in a social media post that she later deleted.

She attended his trial, which was held from February 5 to 7, along with Alves’ brothers.

Spain’s second deputy prime minister, Yolanda Diaz, said last month: “I hope this prison sentence will be an example of all the sexist behavior women suffer in all areas.”