Former Barcelona and PSG player Dani Alves, a Brazilian football player, is on trial in Barcelona on Monday for allegedly raping a woman in a neighborhood nightclub.
Former Barcelona and PSG player Dani Alves, a Brazilian football player, is on trial in Barcelona on Monday for allegedly raping a woman in a neighborhood nightclub. The requested punishment from the prosecution is nine years in jail, with an additional ten years of conditional release. They also want him to reimburse the woman with 150,000 euros ($162,000). The trial is scheduled to conclude on Wednesday at 9 a.m. GMT. The lady accused the 40-year-old former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain defender of raping her in the VIP area of the premium Sutton nightclub in Barcelona in the early hours of December 31, 2022, led to his arrest in January 2023. Since then, he has been detained.
Alves first denied knowing the woman in a TV appearance, but now he claims they had consensual sex.
Alves, who was on vacation in Barcelona at the time after representing Brazil in the World Cup in Qatar, is said to have offered champagne to the young lady and her companion.
It is then claimed that Alves asked the woman to enter a small enclosure at the nightclub, which she claims she was unaware was a restroom.
Prosecutors claim in the indictment that once inside, the football player displayed a “violent attitude” and coerced her into having sex against her will.
The indictment depicts a “situation of anguish and terror” for the young woman and states that “the victim asked him several times to let her go, saying she wanted to leave but the defendant prevented her from doing so.”
Prosecutors said the woman is receiving therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder after fleeing the nightclub and receiving medical attention.
The public and media will not be present when Alves’ accuser takes the stand, despite the legal team’s unsuccessful attempt to keep the trial behind closed doors. Her true identity is still a mystery.
In June, Alves told the Barcelona-based daily La Vanguardia that he had first lied about knowing his accuser out of fear that his wife would divorce him if he came clean about his relationship with another woman.
Alves’s request to be released until his trial has been repeatedly denied by Spanish judges, who have cited his flight danger to Brazil—a country that seldom extradites its nationals.
In Spain, a plea agreement can be reached up until the beginning of the trial, thus Alves could still confess to the crime in exchange for a less sentence.
In November, the accuser’s attorney acknowledged that “talks” had taken place, but disputed that she had come to any such understanding.
Over the course of his illustrious career, Alves won 42 trophies, including three Champions Leagues with Barcelona and two Copa America titles with Brazil.
His playing career peaked between 2008 and 2016, when he won 23 trophies while with Barcelona.Alves was employed by the Mexican team Pumas UNAM at the time of his arrest; the club fired him shortly after. Alves also played for Juventus in Italy and for Sevilla.
