Prosecutor to appeal Dani Alves' acquittal in sexual assault case

The Catalan Prosecutor's Office has announced it will appeal the acquittal of former footballer Dani Alves, who was accused of sexually assaulting a young woman in December 2022 at a nightclub in Barcelona. 

Alves was sentenced to four years and six months in prison by the Court of Barcelona in February 2024, but the Catalan High Court overturned that decision on Friday.  

The Brazilian former FC Barcelona player was in prison for over a year, both prior to his trial after being deemed a flight risk, and for a short period after his initial sentencing.

The prosecutor's appeal, announced on Wednesday, will be heard by Spain's Supreme Court.

High Court ruling

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

Political reactions spark controversy 

Alves' acquittal has drawn comment from politicians including Spain's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, who called the ruling "shameful." 

Montero expressed concern that the testimony of a victim is "still" being questioned, stating that the presumption of innocence "should not take precedence over the testimony of young, brave women who decide to denounce the powerful." 

Montero later withdrew her comments but said that the ruling "is obviously a setback." 

"The presumption of innocence cannot be incompatible with the credibility and reliability of the victim's testimony," she said. 

Oppostion leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo of the conservative People's Party (PP) called on Montero to step down over the comments, while PP MEP Dolors Montserrat formally filed a complaint with the European Commission condemning Montero's comments. 

In her letter to Justice Commissioner Michael McGrath, Montserrat warned that Montero's remarks undermine "fundamental constitutional principles, such as the presumption of innocence," and represent a "direct attack from the executive branch on the judiciary." She urged McGrath to include these concerns in the upcoming report on the rule of law in Spain. 

Montero criticized judges and prosecutors' associations for targeting her comments but not the PP's over issues such as the amnesty for pro-independence figures.