The Court of Barcelona, the highest judicial body in that Spanish region, decided to send Dani Alves to trial in the case in which he is being prosecuted for allegedly raping a young woman in a nightclub on December 30 of last year. The date will be known once the procedure by which the parties present a document setting out their position on the facts is completed, for which they have five business days.
The resolution is a hard setback for the former full-back of FC Barcelona and the Brazilian national team, who through his lawyer had requested the annulment of the case considering that the leaks of the file to the media constitute a “parallel trial.” ” and a “violation of the presumption of innocence.”
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The arguments of Dani Alves’ defense rejected by justice
Given the arguments of the footballer’s defense, who will remain in preventive detention, the Court recognized that in cases involving public figures “opinions are expressed” in the media “that may violate the principle of presumption of innocence.” but he added that this does not mean the process is null and void, according to what the Catalan newspaper AS reported.
Alves’ defense also criticized that the investigating judge maintained “a passive attitude in the face of the multiple leaks in the case,” which in his opinion shows that he was partial. But given this, the superior court clarified that the magistrate was not challenged nor did it point out “how this loss of impartiality was reflected in any resolution that had limited the defendant’s defense.”
The beginning of the judicial investigation
The investigation was opened on the same night of the events, December 30, when the complainant, a 23-year-old girl, accused the former Pumas full-back of raping her at the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona. Alves appeared weeks later voluntarily to testify and the judge ordered his preventive detention considering that there was a risk of flight.
Alves offered different versions of what happened and in the last one he admitted that he had sexual relations with the complainant, but that they were consensual. However, at the end of July he was prosecuted when it was considered that there were “sufficient rational indications” to “suppose” that there was a physical assault and rape.
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