Dani Alves acquitted after Catalan High Court overturns rape conviction

The Catalan High Court has unanimously overturned the sexual assault conviction of footballer Dani Alves, who had been sentenced to four and a half years in prison for raping a woman in a Barcelona nightclub on December 31, 2022. 

Former Barça player Alves was convicted by Barcelona Court in February last year but was allowed to leave prison shortly after as he had already served a large part of his sentence. 

The appeals panel, consisting of three female judges and one male judge, said the reasoning of the trial court contained "a series of gaps, imprecisions, inconsistencies, and contradictions regarding the events, the legal evaluation, and their consequences."  

The High Court also found the complainant to be unreliable in parts of her testimony. 

Testimony and evidence issues

The Catalan High Court upheld Dani Alves' appeal and dismissed the appeals from both the public and private prosecution, which had sought to increase the sentence to nine and twelve years, respectively. 

The ruling issued on Friday states that the original court decision had already highlighted the lack of reliability in the complainant's testimony, particularly in parts of her account that could be objectively verified through video footage, "explicitly indicating that what she recounts does not correspond to reality." 

The court also found issues with the reliability of her account in parts that were not recorded, such as the denial of a sexual act, which was corroborated “with a very high probability” by DNA evidence. 

The ruling adds that, in contrast, the previous ruling accepted the rest of the complainant's testimony — specifically regarding the non-consensual vaginal penetration in the nightclub bathroom — without comparing it to other evidence, such as fingerprint and DNA analysis by expert witnesses.  

"The argument shift in the trial court's decision on this matter, limiting the subjective belief in the complainant's statement solely to the non-consensual vaginal penetration, given that she has been proven an unreliable witness because many of her claims were unverified, overlooks what the trial court should have methodologically investigated: comparing this statement with other evidence," the High Court ruling said. 

It adds that "from the evidence presented, it cannot be concluded that the standards required by the presumption of innocence under European law have been met." 

The court also explained that the only hypothesis judged was the accusation. Therefore, not accepting the accusation does not imply that "the true hypothesis is the one presented by the defense of the accused." 

Lawyers and politicians react 

The Brazilian footballer's lawyer, Inés Guardiola, welcomed the acquittal, saying they were "very happy." 

"Justice has finally been served," she told RAC1 radio. "Of course we expected it. He is innocent and it has been proven. We are very emotional," she said. 

The complainant's lawyer called the ruling a "setback both legally and socially in the fight against sexual violence." 

"In a way she felt as if she was going back to the bathroom where the events took place," said Ester García, who warned that the decision could "disincentivize" women from reporting. 

While legally they ought to appeal, García said, they must also take into account the woman's emotional state and whether she can endure further legal proceedings. 

Catalonia's Minister of Equality and Feminism, Eva Menor, said she was "concerned" that the justice system "repeatedly questions the credibility" of victims of gender-based violence. 

Menor has said that she respects the sentence, because she has not analyzed it, but she is concerned about "revictimization." 

Spain's Minister of Equality, Ana Redondo, said that she "respects," but does not share, the court's ruling. 

"We may be giving a bad message to the citizens and women of this country. They must be able to report [sexual crimes], they must report [them] and they must know that their voice and their word are credible and that they are supported by the law."