A court of appeal has acquitted former Barcelona and Juventus defender, Dani Alves of sexual assault and overturned a four-and-half-year prison sentence.
The 41-year-old was sentenced for an alleged sexual assault at a Barcelona nightclub in December 2022 on New year’s eve. He was released on bail in March 2024, as all the parties involved awaited the outcome of all the appeals submitted against the initial ruling.
The court announced Alves a free man on Friday, March 28, 2025, he denied any wrongdoing during the three- day trial.
What did Dani Alves do?
Dani Alves was accused of assaulting a woman in a Barcelona nightclub on New Year’s Eve in 2022 and was sentenced to four years, six months in prison.
The legislation in Brazil which popularly known as the “only yes means yes” law defines consent as an explicit expression of a person’s will, making it clear that silence or passivity do not equal consent.
However, the four judges of a Barcelona-based appeals court ruled unanimously to overturn the conviction. They wrote in their ruling that the testimony of the plaintiff “differed notably” from the evidence of video footage taken before the woman and Alves entered the bathroom where she said he forced her to have sex without her consent.
He is one of the most decorated players in the world having won loads of trophies with top clubs like Barcelona, Juventus, and Paris Saint Germain.
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