The section 21 court of the Barcelona Court has ratified its decision to release Dani Alves. In an order issued this Wednesday, he rejects the appeals for reform presented by the prosecutor’s office and the victim’s lawyer who opposed the release of the former soccer player. The judges reason that based on the severity of the sentence imposed – 4 and a half years in prison for rape – the risk of escape has decreased and they understand that there are “less burdensome” measures that can be applied to ensure Alves’s permanence in the country such as the withdrawal of the passport and the weekly appearance before the court. He points out that the sentence is not yet final and in no case can provisional detention advance the effects of a hypothetical sentence that could be imposed on the accused.” In addition, he considers that the danger that the footballer could flee to Brazil “can be counteracted “with the bail of one million euros imposed.
The Prosecutor’s Office and the private prosecution, which represents the victim, argued that the risk of flight “had been reinforced with the issuance of a conviction” and that said danger “cannot be mitigated with the agreed alternative measures.” Nor did they validate the argument put forward by the court that Alves responded to justice from the first moment he appeared voluntarily. The accusations responded that the player appeared because he did not know what he was accused of. “Although he is unaware of the evidence against him, the truth is that when he made himself available to the Spanish authorities he knew the seriousness of the facts for which he was being reported and, therefore, the consequences that could arise from it. , and by delivering them he assumed them,” the court answers. The victim’s lawyer also requested that Alves remain behind bars until half of the sentence, a fact that in the court’s opinion “is not appropriate” because this would mean “enforcing the sentence imposed.”
The judges also take advantage of the brief to reproach the criticism made by the victim’s lawyer who, very angry after learning of the footballer’s release, denounced that “those convicted of rape can be released by paying.” The court responds that these statements “only contribute to generating social confusion and that the imposition of bail responds” to the strict application of current legislation.
Dani Alves was released on March 26 after raising the million euro bail and after spending fourteen months in provisional prison, accused of rape. The footballer was sentenced in the first instance to a sentence of four and a half years but until all the appeals are resolved the sentence will not be final. The accusations still need to be appealed to the TSJC and, ultimately, there is the possibility of appealing to the Supreme Court.
