Dani Alves, acquitted: The High Court of Justice of Catalonia overturns his conviction for sexual assault

Dani Alves has been acquitted following the decision of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSCJ) for the crime of sexual assault for which he was previously convicted by the Barcelona Court. It should be noted that, in this controversial case, the native of Juazeiro was accused of having forced a 23-year-old woman at that time to have sexual relations without her consent and violently in a bathroom of the VIP section of the Sutton nightclub in December 2022.

Initially, the Barcelona Court sentenced Dani Alves in February 2024 to four and a half years in prison, with five years of supervised release and nine years of distance from the victim, whom he was also to compensate with €150,000. However, this ruling was appealed by all parties involved: the prosecution sought to increase the sentence to nine years in prison, the accusing party even requested a sentence of 12 years, while the former footballer's lawyer directly requested his acquittal.

Why has Dani Alves ended up being acquitted by the TSCJ?

Finally, the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSCJ) has unanimously acquitted Dani Alves due to the lack of conclusive evidence. According to several sources, the criminal chamber of the high territorial court, composed of three women and one man, considered that the testimony of the young woman was not sufficient to uphold the conviction, highlighting the principle of the presumption of innocence.

"The argumentative leap made by the trial court in this particular case, situating the subjective belief of the complainant's statement, limiting it only to the non-consensual vaginal penetration, given that she has proven to be an unreliable witness, as many of her other statements have not been verified,  avoids what should have been methodologically investigated by the trial court, which is the contrast of that statement with the other evidence," can be read in the Appeals Section.

Furthermore, the document also states that "from the evidence presented, it cannot be concluded that the standards required by the presumption of innocence have been surpassed in accordance with Directive (EU) 2016/343 of the European Parliament and of the Council of Europe of March 9, 2016".

Additionally, it emphasizes that "the trial court's ruling uses, in its analysis, the term credibility as a synonym for reliability, which it is not. Credibility refers to a subjective belief that cannot be contrasted, associated with the person making the statement; reliability, on the other hand, affects the statement itself," it summarized. The ruling asserts: "The divergence between what was reported and what happened severely compromises the reliability of her account."

The testimony of Dani Alves' lawyer after this decision was announced

So far, there has been no statement from Dani Alves following this ruling in his favor. However, his lawyer, Inés Guardiola, has spoken, stating: "We are happy, he is innocent, justice has acted. It has been very emotional, justice has been served."

"We expected this, it is justice. Alves is innocent, it has just been proven and justice has finally been served. I am emotional. I believed it and we are very happy," she added in statements to 'RAC1', showing great signs of emotion in her voice. "The ruling is not final, it is extensive, and I have to read it," she specified, mentioning that she had not yet decided whether they would request compensation or not.