A much awaited moment. The trial of former Barça and PSG star Dani Alves for the rape of a young woman in a nightclub in December 2022 opened on Monday in Barcelona (Spain). This trial, which is due to last until Wednesday, began around 09:30 GMT and is followed on site by dozens of journalists.
In pre-trial detention for more than a year, the Brazilian, who disputes the facts, is accused by a young woman of having raped her in the toilets of a VIP room at the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona, on the night of 30 December 31, 2022.
ALSO SEE – The career of Dani Alves at FC Barcelona
The prosecution – which requires before the trial in Spain – is demanding nine years in prison against him, as well as the payment of 150,000 euros to the young woman and 10 years of supervised release at the end of her incarceration.
According to the indictment, Dani Alves, 40, was in this nightclub with a friend on the evening of the incident. After offering champagne to the complainant, her cousin and a friend, he allegedly invited her to accompany him to an exclusive area of the nightclub with toilets, which she did not know.
The player, who was then on vacation in Barcelona after participating in the World Cup in Qatar with Brazil, would have had a “violent attitude” towards the young woman, whom he would have forced to have sexual relations, again according to the prosecution. “The victim asked him several times (…) to let her go, saying that she wanted to leave, but the accused prevented her from doing so,” we can still read in the document. accusation, which describes a “situation of anguish and terror” for the young woman.
Medically taken care of that night, the complainant suffered from “post-traumatic stress of generally high intensity” for which she was being monitored, according to the public prosecutor.
In order to protect her in the face of the great media interest this trial arouses, her hearing will be held behind closed doors. Her identity will also never be revealed during the hearings, while a screen will allow her not to be “visually confronted with the accused”, the court decided. The latter, who must also hear around twenty witnesses, on the other hand rejected the request of the prosecution which wanted the trial to take place entirely behind closed doors.
Since the start of the case, Dani Alves has changed his version several times, going so far as to say in a video at the beginning of January that he had never met the complainant. He then justified himself by asserting that he did not want to jeopardize his marriage, before eventually admitting that he had had a sexual relationship with the young woman, but that it was consensual.
Spanish justice has repeatedly refused his release pending trial, highlighting a “high risk of flight” for the player to Brazil, a country which generally does not extradite its nationals.
One of the most successful footballers in history, Dani Alves enjoyed the most glorious period of his career at Barça, between 2008 and 2016, where he won 23 trophies. The player, who also played in Seville (Spain) and Juventus Turin (Italy), was playing in the Mexican club Pumas at the time of his incarceration in January 2022. This club, with which he was under contract until at the end of last season, immediately fired him.
