A Spanish Court Overturned Dani Alves’ Sexual Assault Conviction On Appeal

‎Former Barcelona player, Dani Alves, has seen his sexual assault conviction overturned on appeal.

‎A Spanish court on Friday ruled that the original verdict presented “inconsistencies and contradictions”.

‎In February of last year, Alves was found guilty of raping a woman in a restroom at a Barcelona nightclub in 2022 and received a sentence of four and a half years in prison. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing, asserting that the encounter was consensual.

‎Spain 2022 overhauled its laws to make consent central to defining a sex crime, and Alves’ trial last year was the first high-profile case help since the changes.

‎The Catalan high court, in its ruling to overturn the verdict, stated that the alleged victim’s testimony lacked reliability when it came to facts that could be objectively verified by video recordings.

‎The court noted that her account “explicitly indicates that what she recounted does not correspond to reality.”

‎Alves had already been released from prison on a €1 million bail while awaiting the result of his appeal. He may now leave the country as the appeal court lifted all travel restrictions.

‎The decision can still be appealed before Spain’s Supreme Court.