(Barcelona) The Spanish court has requested nine years in prison for Brazilian footballer Dani Alves, accused of rape by a young woman in a nightclub in Barcelona, we learned Thursday from the public prosecutor’s office.
According to the indictment consulted Thursday by AFP, the court also demands that the player be subject to ten years of freedom under judicial supervision, once his sentence has been served. He also requests compensation from the complainant in the amount of 150,000 euros and “the ban (for Alves) from approaching” her for ten years.
Alves, a former player for Barça and PSG in particular, has been in pre-trial detention since January, in a prison near Barcelona.
Charged with “sexual assault”, a criminal category including rape in Spain, he must be tried in this case on a date which has not yet been set.
Dani Alves is accused by a young woman of having raped her at the end of December in the toilets of a nightclub in Barcelona, a city in the north-east of Spain. The 40-year-old disputes the facts.
Spanish justice has repeatedly opposed his release pending trial, in particular due to a “high risk of flight” of the player to Brazil which, like many other countries, does not extradite in generally not its nationals.
Alves had changed his version several times, going so far as to say in a video in early January that he had never met the complainant. He justified himself by saying that he did not want to jeopardize his marriage.
The indictment describes in detail what, according to the public prosecutor, happened in the toilets of the VIP area of the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona, on the night of December 30 to 31, 2022.
According to the prosecution, the footballer showed a “violent attitude” towards the young woman, whom he forced to have sex, despite her refusal.
The complainant, who was medically treated that night and who filed a complaint on January 2, is currently suffering from “post-traumatic stress of generally high intensity” for which she is being monitored, according to the public prosecutor.
One of the most successful footballers in history with 43 trophies, the right-back, who also played for Sevilla FC and Juventus Turin, enjoyed the most glorious period of his career at Barça, between 2008 and 2016, where he won 23 titles.
A few hours after the announcement of his indictment in January, the Mexican club Pumas announced that it was terminating the player’s contract, initially scheduled to last until June 2023.
At the end of December, Alves was on vacation in Barcelona after participating in the World Cup in Qatar with the Brazilian selection and before returning to Mexico. In Qatar, the defender became the oldest Brazilian ever to play in the World Cup.
