A Spanish court docket has dominated that ex-Barcelona and Brazil footballer Dani Alves might be conditionally launched from jail after serving a couple of quarter of his sentence for rape.
Alves, who was sentenced to 4 and a half years in jail final month, can be launched on a €1m (£853,000) bail.
He had been held in pre-trial detention since January 2023.
The 40-year-old was discovered responsible of raping a girl in a Barcelona nightclub in December 2022.
The situations for his launch embrace turning over each his Brazilian and Spanish passports so he can’t depart Spain.
He should additionally seem earlier than the court docket on a weekly foundation.
The court docket moreover imposed a restraining order, stopping him from approaching the sufferer.
The ruling got here a day after Alves’ lawyer requested his launch on the grounds that he had already served 1 / 4 of his sentence in pre-trial detention following his arrest.
The choice, which was not unanimous because of a dissenting vote from one of many judges, can nonetheless be appealed.
Throughout final month’s trial, prosecutors stated Alves and his buddy had purchased champagne for 3 younger girls earlier than Alves lured considered one of them to a VIP space of the nightclub with a rest room which she had no information of.
They argued that it was at this level he turned violent, forcing the lady to have intercourse regardless of her repeated requests to depart.
Alves had maintained she might have left “if she wished to”. Nevertheless, the court docket discovered that she didn’t consent.
Spanish regulation was modified not too long ago to enshrine the significance of consent beneath the so-called “Solely Sure is Sure” precept.
In a press release, the court docket stated there was proof aside from the sufferer’s testimony that proved that she had been raped.
It stated Alves had “abruptly grabbed the complainant” and thrown her to the bottom. He had then raped her whereas stopping her from shifting as “the complainant stated no and wished to depart”, it added.
The lady stated the rape had brought about her “anguish and terror”, and considered one of her pals who was along with her on the evening described how the 23-year-old had cried “uncontrollably” after leaving the toilet.
Alves modified his testimony on plenty of events.
He first denied realizing his accuser solely to assert later that he had met her in the bathroom however that nothing had occurred between them.
He then modified his model of occasions once more, saying that they’d had consensual intercourse. “We have been each having fun with ourselves,” he alleged.
Alves performed greater than 400 occasions for Barcelona, successful six league titles and three Champions Leagues throughout two spells with the membership. He was additionally a part of Brazil’s 2022 World Cup squad.
He has received trophies enjoying for Sevilla, Juventus and PSG and is amongst Brazil’s most capped internationals, with 126 appearances.