Twist in the Dani Alves case. The appeals chamber of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia acquits the former Brazilian player of the crime of sexual assault for which he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison by the Audiencia de Barcelona. The appeals section unanimously overturned the sentence that convicted the footballer, as it presents evaluative deficits that prevent sharing “the assessment of the court of first instance or the conclusion it reaches”.

The criminal chamber of the territorial high court, composed of three women and one man, concluded unanimously that the testimony of the young woman who accused the former Barcelona footballer in December 2022 is not sufficient to uphold the conviction of the accused, and that in this case the right to the presumption of innocence prevails. The judges point out that the fact that the prosecution’s hypothesis is not accepted as proven does not mean that “the true hypothesis is that maintained by the defense of the accused.”

The Barcelona Court considered it proven, based on the victim’s statement, that the former defender had full and non-consensual sexual relations with a young woman in a bathroom of a famous nightclub in the upper area of Barcelona, but indicated that there was some “mismatch” in the victim’s account and the images captured by the cameras. Despite this, the body considered that this lack of consistency did not affect or invalidate Alves’ behavior nor did it call into question the woman’s credibility.

More than a year in prison

But now, the Catalan High Court concludes that the victim’s testimony is not enough to counteract the presumption of innocence of the former Brazilian international footballer. The body, made up of judges Maria ngels Vivas, Roser Bach and Maria Jesus Manzano and judge Manuel Alvarez, does not share “the conviction of the court of first instance expressed in its resolution, the exposition of which contains throughout the reasoning a series of gaps, inaccuracies, inconsistencies and contradictions about the facts, the legal assessment and its consequences”.

The court thus dismisses the appeals of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which requested the partial annulment of the sentence and subsidiarily to increase the sentence to nine years, and of the private prosecution, which requested to increase the sentence to 12 years, and acquits the accused, rendering ineffective the precautionary measures imposed and declaring ex officio the procedural costs.

Dani Alves was in provisional prison for more than a year and obtained provisional release after posting bail of one million euros.