Footballer Dani Alves tried for rape in Barcelona

Former Barça and PSG star, footballer Dani Alves has been on trial since Monday February 5, in Barcelona, ​​for the rape of a young woman in a nightclub in December 2022. Followed on site by dozens of journalists, this trial, which is scheduled to last until Wednesday, began with procedural questions.

The prosecution is demanding nine years in prison for the former Brazilian international, as well as payment of 150,000 euros to the complainant and ten years of supervised release following his incarceration. In pre-trial detention for more than a year, Dani Alves, who disputes the facts, is accused of having raped a young woman in the toilets of the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona, ​​on the night of December 30 to 31, 2022.

According to the indictment, the player, who was then spending a few days of vacation in Barcelona after the World Cup in Qatar, was in the VIP area of ​​this nightclub with a friend. After offering champagne to the complainant, her cousin and a friend, he allegedly invited her to accompany him to an adjoining room, which had a toilet, which she was unaware of.

“Anguish and terror”

The footballer would then have had a “violent attitude” towards the young woman, whom he allegedly forced to have sexual relations, again according to the prosecution. “The victim asked him several times (…) to let her go (…)but the accused prevented him from doing so”can we still read in the indictment, which describes a “situation of anxiety and terror” for the young woman.

Medically taken care of that night, the complainant suffered from a “generally high intensity post-traumatic stress”for which she is being monitored, according to the public prosecutor.

In order to protect her, given the great media interest aroused by this trial, her hearing, scheduled for Monday, will be held behind closed doors. His identity will also never be revealed during the hearings, while a screen will allow him not to be “visually confronted with the accused”the court decided.

The latter, who must also hear around twenty witnesses, has, on the other hand, rejected the request of the prosecution, which wanted the trial to take place entirely behind closed doors.

Version changes

Since the start of the case, Dani Alves has changed his version several times, going so far as to say in a video at the beginning of January that he had never met the complainant. He then justified himself by asserting that he did not want to jeopardize his marriage, before eventually admitting that he had had a sexual relationship with the young woman, but that it was consensual.

The Spanish justice system has repeatedly refused his release, pending trial, highlighting a “high risk of leakage” of the player in Brazil, a country which generally does not extradite its nationals.

The footballer’s lawyers also tried to reach an agreement with the plaintiff before the start of the trial, as the latter’s lawyer admitted at the end of November. Such an agreement, mentioned again in recent days, could have allowed the player to be sentenced to a lesser sentence in exchange for recognition of his guilt and compensation for the victim.