Former footballer Dani Alves, sentenced to four and a half years in prison for raping a 23-year-old young woman in a Barcelona nightclub, will remain in provisional prison for another night. The player’s defense yesterday failed to collect the million euros of bail imposed by the Barcelona Court as a condition for leaving prison, while the appeals presented by the parties are resolved and the sentence is final.
The deadline for depositing the money into the court account expires at two in the afternoon. “It is not easy at all”, admitted yesterday sources from the Brazilian’s defense team, who maintain several fronts to get the million.
Neymar’s father responded affirmatively to the request for help made by the Alves family on Wednesday afternoon itself, when the decision, with a vote against, of section 21 of the Court to stop the player at liberty, but with a strong bond.
But things began to go wrong yesterday, when Neymar’s environment began to receive pressure from Brazilian public opinion for the intention of helping again not a suspect, but a convicted of rape, although the sentence is not final. The icing on the cake was President Lula da Silva, who referred to the issue assuring that “money does not buy freedom”. Immediately afterwards, Neymar’s father released a statement in which he distanced himself from Alves. In any case, this was not the only front in which the Brazilian’s environment was looking for money. In fact, his main option was to get a loan from a bank using as a guarantee the recognition by the Tax Agency of the return of amounts amounting to 6.8 million euros.
In fact, on the same day that the Court issued the interlocutory order for provisional release, practically at the same time the Treasury issued a payment execution order, which may take several days to take effect.
This Wednesday, Alves’ lawyers tried to use the certification of this pending payment with the Treasury in the Court, but it did not help them, because the only thing the court needs to order the release is to check the income to the account of the million euros. The defense did not throw in the towel and resumed negotiations with banking entities yesterday, focusing on one.
The contacts started even before the interlocutory of provisional freedom. At that time, Alves was applying through his intermediaries for a loan to cover the payment of the installments on Esplugues’ house, among other expenses. Banks were closed in droves over a reputational issue. However, yesterday the talks resumed with one of the entities that in the evening had committed to making the loan effective. That is why the lawyers hope that during Friday and before two o’clock in the afternoon the entry can be made effective and Alves will cross the door of Brians 2 prison, where he arrived after a couple of nights in Brians 1 , on January 20, 2023.
Yesterday, Dani Alves was literally on the phone with his lawyer, Inés Guardiola, on the other end. In the early hours, he was visited by two volunteers from a religious organization, who have seen him frequently these past 14 months. In this time, the inmate has been calm and adapted, but yesterday he was unable to hide his nervousness and a not-so-disguised desire to leave the prison.
