Dani Alves was convicted guilty of sexually assaulting a young lady at a Barcelona nightclub, a Spanish court determined on Thursday. The three-judge panel imposed a four-year and six-month term on him. Alves, 40, denied any wrongdoing during a three-day trial this month. The ruling can be appealed.
Daniel Alves da Silva was born in Juazeiro, Bahia, Brazil, to farmer Father Domingos Alves da Silva. He played football with the nearby children. Alves’ father was also a football fan, and he finally organized his own squad. At the age of six, Alves began his career as a winger, but due to a lack of goals, his father repositioned him as a right back.
Daniel Alves was sentenced to four years and six months in jail on Thursday after sexually abusing a 23-year-old woman in Barcelona, Spain, in 2022. The punishment was announced two weeks after the three-day trial at the Barcelona Court, presided over by Judge Isabel Delgado Pérez. The athlete, who maintains innocence, has already been sentenced to 13 months in prison.
The prosecution requested that Daniel Alves be sentenced to 12 years, but the Public Prosecutor’s Office requested no more than nine years. A maximum six-year jail sentence was predicted. The reason for the sentence reduction was the defense’s payment to the Justice, which was still in the early stages of the procedure, for an indemnity of 150 thousand euros (approximately R$ 800 thousand) to the young victim of the crime. Daniel Alves obtained the funds to pay the punishment in court from Neymar da Silva Santos, the Brazilian national team’s father and an Al-Hilal player.
The prosecutor questioned the decision to reduce the sentence. The Public Prosecutor’s Office also recommended ten years of probation after completing his jail term, as well as a ban on approaching or communicating with the victim for the same amount of time following his release.
The Brazilian’s 13 months of pretrial confinement had already been factored into the punishment. This term is subtracted from the sentence specified in the trial. The process is comparable to Brazilian legislation. “In the event of a conviction, the term of pretrial detention must be subtracted from the jail sentence. This is because preventive detention is a preventative measure rather than a kind of punishment,” argues Ceres Rabelo, a criminal process lawyer.
The regime shift is also reminiscent of Brazil. Even if Daniel Alves continues in a confined system, he may be able to adapt over time. This is dependent on the absence of any additional sanctions during the time in jail, often known as “good behavior”. “The sentence execution strategy is gradual. With the sentence executed without penalty, the offender is allowed to proceed to more lenient regimes, such as semi-open or open,” explains Rafael Paiva, a criminal lawyer who specializes in domestic violence.
Ceres Rabelo, on the other hand, points out that in order for a regime change to occur, at least a portion of the sentence must be completed. “Convicted, if the sentence exceeds five years (it is four years and six months), the progression is authorized only after serving half of the sentence,” he said.
The temporary release of convicts on holidays and commemorative anniversaries is contentious, and the Brazilian Legislature recently debated it. In Spain, where Daniel Alves is imprisoned, there are no so-called “outings” scheduled for specified days.
There are releases in extraordinary cases, but it is necessary to prove it to the courts. “Temporary departures in Spain, specifically, only happen in cases of death, serious illness of parents, children, siblings or people closely linked to the detainees, birth of a child… reasons that must be proven,” says Ceres. In these cases, the maximum release period is seven days and with supervision.
The court determined that it was apparent that the victim did not agree to the conduct and that, in addition to the woman’s testimony, there were components that may be used to purchase the aggressiveness. The sentence analysis determined that Daniel Alves “abruptly captured the complainant, took her off the ground, and prevented her from moving” as part of the sexual assault. The phrase underlines the woman’s lack of permission.
Throughout his time in detention, Daniel Alves changed his version of the case several times, changed his defense, and had three requests for provisional release denied, with the Justice citing the risk of flight. Recently, it was reported that Daniel Alves was accused by a cellmate of planning an escape to Brazil. His “depressed and despondent” emotional state also caused the prison where he is being held to trigger an anti-suicide protocol.
