The football player Dani Alves, this Monday in the court of Barcelona, during the trial in which he is accused of sexual assault on a young woman. DAVID ZORRAKINO (Europa Press)
Dani Alves denounced in the first session of the trial for the rape of a 23-year-old girl in the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona that he was the victim of a “parallel trial” and “social condemnation”. His lawyer Inés Guardiola assured the court that the trial was marked by “irregularities” and violated the fundamental rights of the former FC Barcelona footballer. “He sits on the bench with the social conviction that he is guilty,” said the lawyer who has asked for the case to be overturned.
The first major trial on the “Only Yes is Yes” law started on time this Monday in the court in Barcelona. Finally, there was no agreement between the parties (defense, prosecution and victim) that would have allowed Alves to reduce a possible prison sentence in exchange for an admission to the facts. The Brazilian full-back was brought from prison – he has been in preventive detention for more than a year – through the elevators of the Palace of Justice to the dock. It is a special itinerary that prevented journalists from seeing their arrival at the hall. Alves is accused of raping the young woman in the bathroom of Sutton's VIP room on December 31, 2022, and faces a request from prosecutors for nine years in prison.
Section 21 of the Barcelona Court has reserved three days for the assessment of the footballer, who has been in preventive detention since January 20, 2023. That day, after his arrest, Alves appeared before the judge and gave up to three different versions of what happened in the toilet stalls of the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona. Faced with these “contradictions,” the judge sent him to prison. Dressed in a white shirt and jeans, Alves took a seat in front of the judges as his lawyer began asking legal questions about the progress of the trial.
The trial began after 10 hours with this trial of preliminary questions, in which it is likely that Alves' defense will ask the courtroom to allow him to testify at the end of the trial, once the witnesses have been heard and the expert testimony has been presented. If the court approves this request, the trial will begin with the victim's testimony, who will be interviewed behind closed doors – with their voice distorted and their face pixelated to prevent later leakage of the recording of the hearing – after which they will testify. The friends who were with her that night when they met Alves at the Sutton nightclub.
While the public prosecutor's office is demanding nine years in prison for the Brazilian international and the payment of compensation of 150,000 euros, the victim's private lawsuit – together with lawyer Ester García – increases their request to twelve years in prison, the maximum penalty for a crime. for sexual assault. The defense, represented by lawyers Inés Guardiola and Miraida Puente Wilson, calls for the acquittal of Alves on the grounds that there was no rape and that the sexual relationship with the plaintiff was consensual, but cites mitigating circumstances to determine the sentence in the case of rape to mitigate a possible conviction: drunkenness and reparation of the damage for the payment of the 150,000 euros that the judge had imposed as bail to cover possible compensation to the victim.
The prosecution has no doubt that Alves sexually abused the young woman after introducing her to the small bathroom in the private room, adopting a “contemptuous and violent” attitude towards her, which made the young woman feel such “caused fear and terror,” which prevented him from reacting. According to the prosecution, which fully corresponds to the complainant's version, Dani Alves invited the young woman and her friends to drink champagne in the cabin where they were and, after dancing and chatting with them, he invited around 3:20 a.m. The victim followed him to an adjacent door, which she did not realize gave access to a private bathroom. Once there, the State Department alleges, “he began groping her with lascivious intent and the clear intention of satisfying his sexual desires,” and in the face of the young woman's resistance and pleas to let her go, he gave up slapped her and ended the whole thing. I raped her without warning. Use a condom.
During the three trial sessions, 28 witnesses will appear in court, including employees of the nightclub, the friend who was partying with Alves when the events occurred and the athlete's wife, Joana Sanz, who was proposed by the defense to give evidence That Sutton was there was drunk that night. The police officers who cared for the complainant and those who investigated the rape based on the analysis of the biological evidence collected in the bathroom of the private room will also testify, as will the experts who prepared biological and psychological reports on the victim have created.
A total of 270 professionals from 70 media companies – 23 of them from abroad – are accredited to follow Alves' trial, which will be broadcast to the press via internal circuit signal, although neither images nor audio of the hearing can be broadcast. with the exception of some shots of the defendant sitting in the dock shortly before the trial begins.