One year and two months after his entry into prison, Dani Alves left the Brians 2 prison in Barcelona last Monday, where he was imprisoned after the sexual assault of a young woman on December 30, 2022. The footballer was convicted last February to four years and six months in prison, but the National Court of Barcelona granted him provisional freedom with a bail of one million euros that, finally, the athlete managed to raise. In recent months, a statue in his honor in his hometown has been vandalized a couple of times, and now activist Manuella Tyler Medrado is calling for its removal because she calls into question its “value and dignity.” Women’s”.
The conviction of Dani Alves has been one of the most talked about topics in recent weeks. Apart from the four and a half years in prison, the Barcelona Court also imposed five years of supervised freedom, removal and incommunicado detention from the victim for nine years and six months, as well as compensation of 150,000 euros and payment of the cost of the trial. . However, this week the athlete was released on bail, something that has generated a large number of reactions, the vast majority against his freedom.
This case has not gone unnoticed in the Brazilian’s hometown, Juazeiro, where the footballer even has his own statue. However, this figure has appeared vandalized on several occasions, and in recent months many of the neighbors have demanded that the city council remove it, since the player has already been finally convicted. Now it is activist Manuella Tyler Medrado who has filed a petition to remove this statue.
The student assured in an interview with the EFE agency that the statue questions “the value and dignity of women.” The young woman argued that this action not only represents her own indignation, but also that of all the women of the town, located in the state of Bahia (Brazil). “We have to form a society where rape culture is not normalized,” said the activist.
“Sexual crimes must be repudiated,” the young woman stated, while pointing out that they must also be repudiated if it implies the loss of someone’s position as a “national hero.” The request to remove the statue was received by the Public Ministry of Bahia, which sent it to the Municipal Prosecutor’s Office for analysis and adoption of pertinent measures, so we will have to wait to know what the final decision is.
The statue of Dani Alves was inaugurated in 2020 on a central avenue in Juazeiro, and in recent months it has been the victim of various attacks. In the past, several local residents decided to place bags and ribbons around his head as a sign of protest. Now everything remains in the hands of justice, while many hope that this statue will soon disappear from the streets of their city.
