Spanish prosecutors said Wednesday they are appealing to the Supreme Court over the “irrational” reversal of Dani Alves’ rape conviction, accusing a Barcelona appeals court of effectively putting the accuser on trial by casting doubt on her credibility.
Alves, the former Brazil and Barcelona defender, was sentenced in February 2023 to 4½ years in prison after being found guilty of raping a young woman in a VIP bathroom at a Barcelona nightclub on New Year’s Eve 2022.
The conviction was overturned on March 28 by a higher court, which cited contradictions in the accuser’s testimony and ruled there was insufficient evidence to prove the encounter was non-consensual – a decision that sparked backlash from feminist groups and members of Spain’s left-wing government.
Alves has consistently claimed the encounter was consensual.
In a written submission seen by Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Wednesday, the public prosecutor’s office criticized what it called a “thoughtless and irrational assessment” of some of the evidence by the court.
The court’s conclusions were “completely wrong and irrational, even arbitrary,” prosecutors wrote, particularly regarding the alleged discrepancy between the victim’s testimony and her behavior captured on surveillance footage.
“It would appear to recover the medieval assumption of ‘the woman who agrees to get drunk with a man consents to everything.’ That is not the case – she only agrees to get drunk,” they added.
Prosecutors also described a “cruel” situation for the young woman, “who is morally convicted and made untrustworthy.”
Alves was jailed from his arrest in January 2023 until March 2024, when he was released pending appeal after posting the 1 million euros ($1.1 million) bail set by the courts.
The former right back was a key figure in a dominant Barcelona side, winning three Champions League titles and six La Liga crowns with the Catalan club.
His decorated career also included league titles with Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain, along with 126 caps for Brazil.