Madrid: On Friday, the Supreme Court of the Catalonia region of Spain was convicted of the conviction of Brazilian soccer player Danny Alves, saying that the case against him was contradictions and contradictions.
Last year, the 41-year-old defender was convicted of raping a woman in a nightclub toilet in Barcelona in 2022 and sentenced to 4-1/2 years in prison.
“Danny Alves is very happy. He is innocent, and that’s what appears. Justice has spoken,” said Eins Guardiola, former Barcelona lawyer, Paris Saint -Germain, Juventus. Rac1 radio.
The issue has acquired Spain, as women’s rights became a very sensitive national issue, especially in the world of sports after the scandal of the former football president Luis Rubiales, national team player Jenny Hermoso in 2023.
In the ruling on its appeal unanimously, the four Catalan Supreme Court said that the testimony of the accused lacks reliability on the facts that can be verified objectively through the video, “expressly indicates that what was narrated does not correspond to reality.”
He said, “The deficiencies in the evidence leads to the conclusion that the criterion required according to the assumption of innocence was not fulfilled,” noting that “a series of gaps, inaccuracy, contradictions and contradictions related to facts and legal evaluation and its results.”
The defendant’s lawyer, Esther Garcia, told reporters that she would appeal the decision before the Supreme Court of Spain, which may take a year to solve it. She said that the operation was imposing emotional taxes for her customer because of the intense media interest in the case.
The Regional Public Prosecutor’s Office declined to comment on the ruling.
Alves was already released from prison on bail of one million euros ($ 1.1 million) while waiting for the appeal. Now it is free to leave Spain after the court canceled the travel ban, a restriction and payment order.
The court said that the alleged victim’s argument that she went with Alves to the bathroom for fear that his friends might follow them did not appear contracts, and concluded that she “voluntarily went to the bathroom area for the purpose of being with the defendant in a more intimate space.”
He added that CCTV footage did not allow the conclusion of whether or not they had agreed to the subsequent interaction.
Reactions
While some Spaniards said that the reliable must be trusted, others expressed their uncomfortable rule and its potential effects on women who accuse the men of power.
Justice Minister Felix Polanos said that the ruling should be respected and could not evaluate the facts separately by the judges. But he added: “Spanish society is no longer tolerated sexual behavior full of sex and women lose their fear and condemn it.”
However, Deputy Prime Minister Yulunda Diaz came out in solidarity with the defendant Alves, whose identity has not been published. “All my support for the victim. I am concerned about reunification of the victim, who suffers a lot. Justice needs to walk along with women and provide certainty and security.”
Irene Montero, who was the Minister of Equality in Spain when Alves was accused for the first time, criticized the verdict of “patriarchal justice”. “Yes, it means yes,” she added, referring to the legal reform in which it led to the proof of the absence of approval as a major standard for determining sexual crimes.