Dani Alves sexual assault conviction overturned

Brazilian player Dani Alves won his appeal of a sexual assault conviction as a Spanish court overturned the ruling Friday in a case that lasted more than three years and saw the former Barcelona defender spend 14 months in jail.

Alves was found guilty in February 2024 of raping a woman in a nightclub in December 2022 and sentenced to 4½ years in prison. Alves denied wrongdoing during the three-day trial.

That court ruled Friday that there was “insufficient evidence” to rule out Alves’ presumption of innocence.

“Dani Alves is innocent, and that has been proven,” his defense lawyer Inés Guardiola told Catalan radio RAC1. “Justice has finally been served.”

The plaintiff’s lawyer did not immediately respond to The Associated Press when emailed and messaged asking for comment.

The Alves trial was the first high-profile case since Spain overhauled its laws in 2022 to make consent central to defining a sex crime in response to an upswell of protests after a gang rape case during the San Fermin bull running festival in Pamplona in 2016.

The legislation popularly known as the “only yes means yes” law defines consent as an explicit expression of a person’s will, making it clear that silence or passivity do not equal consent.

But the four judges of a Barcelona-based appeals court ruled unanimously to overturn the conviction after reviewing the evidence and testimonies given to the lower court. In their ruling, they wrote that the testimony of the plaintiff “differed notably” from evidence of video footage taken before the woman and Alves entered the bathroom where she said he forced her to have sex without her consent.

Before last year’s trial, the woman told state prosecutors that she had danced with Alves at the nightclub and willingly entered the bathroom, but that later when she wanted to leave he would not let her. She said he slapped her, insulted her and forced her to have sex against her will.

Alves denied those accusations at the three-day trial.

“She never told me to stop. We were both enjoying ourselves,” Alves said, while repeating that the woman never asked to leave or made any indication that she did not want to have sex with him. He also denied having slapped or insulted her.

Alves, now 41, was kept in jail from Jan. 20, 2023 to March 2024 until he was released after paying 1 million euros (then $1.2 million) for bail while awaiting his appeal. He also handed over his passports, with prosecutors having argued against releasing him on bail because of a possible flight risk.

Prosecutors wanted his prison sentence increased to nine years, while the woman’s lawyer wanted him to stay behind bars for 12 years.

This decision could be appealed to the Spanish supreme court in Madrid.

Alves was one of the most successful players of his generation and won dozens of titles with elite clubs including Barcelona, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain.

He was with Liga MX club Pumas when he was arrested. Pumas terminated his contract immediately.