Spanish prosecutors announced Wednesday they will appeal a court decision that overturned Dani Alves’ rape conviction – a ruling that sparked criticism from the government and women’s rights groups.
Alves, a three-time Champions League winner with Barcelona, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison last year for raping a young woman in a VIP bathroom at a Barcelona nightclub in 2022.
However, a Barcelona appeals court overturned the conviction on Friday, citing inconsistencies and contradictions in the trial and ruling that the evidence was insufficient to prove his guilt.
The appeals court said the accuser was an “unreliable complainant” because her testimony “differed notably” from video evidence taken before she and Alves entered the bathroom, where she alleges he forced her to have sex without her consent.
The public prosecutor’s office in Catalonia said in a statement that it intends to appeal the ruling but did not provide further details.
Hundreds of people rallied in Barcelona on Monday against the appeals court’s decision in a demonstration organized by feminist groups. Many carried signs calling the ruling “unacceptable” and demanding its reversal.
Deputy Prime Minister Maria Jesus Montero said Saturday that it was a “shame” the testimony of a rape victim “is still being questioned” and that “the presumption of innocence is said to take precedence over the testimony of young, brave women.”
She apologized Tuesday, saying she did not mean to “call into question the presumption of innocence” but reaffirmed her belief that the appeals court’s decision to overturn Alves’ conviction was “a step backward.”
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, a self-described feminist, has made the fight against sexual violence a priority.
His minority government reformed the country’s criminal code in 2022 to define all nonconsensual sex as rape, responding to the case of an 18-year-old woman who was gang-raped by five men during the San Fermin bull-running festival in Pamplona.
Alves, now 41, was jailed after his arrest in January 2023 and remained in custody until March 2024, when he was released pending appeal after posting the €1 million ($1.1 million) bail set by the courts.