The 21st section of the Barcelona Court held a hearing this Tuesday to decide whether to provisionally release Dani Alves, as his defense has requested while waiting for the sentence to be final. After the trial that took place in February, the court sentenced the Brazilian footballer to four and a half years in prison for raping a woman at the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona.
At the end of the hearing, the former Barça winger spoke by videoconference from Brians 2 prison, where he has been in provisional detention for more than a year. “I believe in justice. I’m not going to run away”he assured.
The Court will decide shortly whether to release Alves, while the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) has on the table the appeals that the Prosecutor’s Office, the private prosecution exercised by the victim and the defense have presented against the sentence.
The Prosecutor’s Office opposes the release of Alves
The Prosecutor’s Office, which in its appeal against the sentence asks the Court to sentence Alves to 9 years in prison, has asked the court to keep the footballer in prison, arguing that there is still a risk of escape, if possible even more so after the sentence, since the penalty is still high.
Some arguments that have also been put forward by the private prosecution exercised by the victim, through her lawyer, Ester Garcia, who has also emphasized the financial resources of the defendant.
The defense asks for acquittal
However, the defense argues that this economic capacity is not such, given that as a result of his arrest the sponsorship agreements that Alves had signed with several brands were terminated, he lost his job at the Pumas soccer club in Mexico and has not yet collected the sum owed by the Treasury for a tax dispute that was resolved in his favor.
The player’s lawyer, Inés Guardiola, also argues that Alves served a quarter of his sentence on March 5, so if the sentence is final he could already enjoy permits and even access the third degree, which the sentence imposed is much lower than that requested by the accusations – 9 and 12 years – and that the TSJC may take up to a year to resolve the matter.
As alternatives, the defense, which in its appeal to the TSJC once again requests acquittal, accepts that a bail of 50,000 euros be imposed on Alves, in addition to the withdrawal of his passport and weekly appearances in court.
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