Former Brazilian an Barcelona star Dani Alves has been granted bail while his appeal is being heard after being sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for rape.
Alves, who is currently serving his sentence in Spain, requested his release during a closed-door hearing at a Barcelona court. His lawyer argued that he had already served a quarter of his sentence while in preventive detention since January 2023.
To secure his release, Alves’ defence team proposed a bail amount of 50,000 euros and the surrender of his passports as a guarantee that he would remain in Spain throughout the trial and not flee to Brazil or any other country without extradition.
However, the court decided to impose a higher bail of one million euros and additional penalties.
Despite attending the hearing via videoconference from prison, Alves expressed his trust in the justice system and assured that he would not attempt to escape.
His defense team had requested his release while the High Court of Justice of Catalonia considers his appeals against the conviction for rape that took place in a Barcelona nightclub in January 2022.
The prosecution denied his request, citing a high risk of absconding. The 40-year-old former footballer’s main argument for staying in custody while his appeal is pending is the risk of absconding. In Spain, the “presumption of innocence” is only definitively overturned upon a firm conviction, which has not yet occurred.
One of the most decorated footballers globally, he played for Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, among others. He was convicted of raping a woman in a Barcelona nightclub in December 2022 and sentenced on February 22. His legal team promptly appealed the sentence, keeping it from becoming final.
Following the defence’s presentation, the Barcelona Court of Appeal decided to release the former Barça player on a one-million-euro bail until the final verdict. The final sentence was four and a half years in prison for rape.
The decision was not unanimous, with one judge voting to keep the footballer incarcerated. Alves can leave prison upon payment of bail, under the conditions of surrendering his Spanish and Brazilian passports, remaining in Spain, and reporting to the court weekly.
The Barcelona Court of Appeal justified the decision to grant bail by highlighting that the risk of the defendant fleeing had decreased after receiving a four and a half year prison sentence. The balance between the years of imprisonment, the 14 months of preventive detention, and the remaining sentence favored the Brazilian.
While provisional detention could potentially be extended until the halfway point of the sentence, it was unlikely that a final sentence would be reached during this period. Therefore, the court opted to grant bail.
