2024-02-22 14:14:18
Brazilian Dani Alves, a former soccer star who played for FC Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, was sentenced Thursday by a Barcelona court to four and a half years in prison for the rape of a young woman in a nightclub in the city in December 2022.
“There is evidence which, beyond the testimony of the complainant, allows the rape to be considered proven,” the court said in a press release.
“The accused suddenly grabbed the complainant, threw her to the ground and penetrated her vaginally, preventing her from moving, while the complainant said no and wanted to leave,” he said. he added.
Alves, who has been in pre-trial detention for more than a year and will appeal this verdict, was also ordered to pay 150,000 euros to the victim, five years of supervised release once his sentence is served and to stay away from the victim for nine and a half years.
The prosecution, for its part, had requested a much higher sentence of nine years in prison once morest the 40-year-old footballer.
“Copy”
In its decision, the court notably highlighted the lesions on the victim’s knees which are “the product of the violence used by Mr. Alvès” as well as the emotional state of the young woman following the facts or the “following-effects » psychological problems from which she suffers.
He further ruled that the victim’s testimony had been “consistent” throughout the proceedings and that she had never wanted to derive an “economic interest” from this affair.
Alves’ conviction at the end of this highly publicized trial, which took place two weeks ago, sparked a reaction even from the Spanish left-wing government, which passed a law on explicit sexual consent in 2022 .
“It’s over,” declared the number three in the executive, the far-left Minister of Labor Yolanda Diaz, in reference to the slogan of the women’s football team following the forced kiss of the ex-president of the Luis Rubiales Federation to the player Jenni Hermoso.
“No more machismo, no more sexual assault. I hope that this will serve as an exemplary measure,” she added in the corridors of Parliament.
Alves, 40, was on the night of December 30 to 31, 2022 with a friend in a VIP area of the Sutton nightclub, following returning from the World Cup in Qatar.
According to the indictment, the former Brazilian international then offered champagne to the complainant, her cousin and a friend and then invited her to follow him into an adjoining room with a toilet.
There, according to the public prosecutor, he would have had a “violent attitude” towards the young woman, who experienced a “situation of anguish and terror”.
“No carte blanche”
In its decision, the court swept aside the defense of the player, who had denied any rape during the trial, affirming that the young woman had danced “glued” to him in the disco and that there was “sexual tension” between them. .
Highlighting the fundamental nature of consent, he considered that “these attitudes […] does not mean giving carte blanche to […] a subsequent attack.
Alves’ defense was weakened by his numerous changes of versions. After claiming to have never met the complainant, the player justified his lie by explaining that he wanted to protect his marriage, before ending up admitting a sexual relationship, but according to him it was consensual.
The court, on the other hand, recognized that the payment by the player, from the start of the procedure, of 150,000 euros aimed at compensating the victim constituted a “mitigating” circumstance, Alves having shown his desire for “reparation”.
On the other hand, he refused to consider the player’s inebriation as an element of “modification of criminal responsibility”, an argument which had been put forward by the Brazilian’s lawyers and relatives.
One of the most successful footballers in history, Dani Alves enjoyed the most glorious period of his career at Barça, between 2008 and 2016, winning 23 trophies.
At the time of his incarceration, Alves, who also played in Seville (Spain), Juventus Turin (Italy) and Paris Saint-Germain, was playing for the Mexican club Pumas who immediately fired him.
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