2023-07-31 19:42:58
By Le Figaro with AFP
Posted 30 minutes ago, Just updated
Dani Alves. Stanley Gontha / Proshots / Panoramic
The former Brazilian FC Barcelona defender, 40, has been in pre-trial detention since January for the alleged rape of a 23-year-old woman. He will be tried in a Spanish court.
Brazilian footballer Dani Alves, accused by a young woman of having raped her at the end of December and imprisoned since January, will be tried for sexual assault, a criminal category including rape in Spain, the superior court of Catalonia confirmed to AFP on Monday. .
The date of the trial has not yet been set, the court said, adding that the charges against the former FC Barcelona and Paris SG full-back, 40, would be the same as those mentioned in the investigation, namely “a crime of sexual assault».
“Severe clues”
According to the Spanish press, the examining magistrate in charge of the investigation summoned the footballer on Wednesday for a hearing in order to notify him of the trial and accompanied the opening of the proceedings with a “caution” of 150,000 euros not intended to allow an exit from prison but imposed as “guaranteeto advance to cover any damages.
This same judge had twice rejected the player’s request for release, highlighting “the high risk of leakage» by Dani Alves «related to the high sentence that can be imposed on him in this case“, THE “severe clues“the incriminating person and his financial means”enormous which could allow him to leave Spain at any time».
Without aggravating circumstances, the player faces a sentence of up to 12 years in prison.
“Really clear conscience”
Dani Alves, who was then under contract with the Mexican club Pumas, is accused by a young woman of having raped her at the end of December in the toilets of a fashionable nightclub in Barcelona.
He has been imprisoned since January 20 in the Brians prison complex, about forty kilometers from Barcelona.
In an interview published a week after the rejection of his second request for release which had caused an outcry in Spain, the player claimed to have “a really clear conscience about what happened that night in the toilets of the VIP area of the Sutton nightclub».
In addition to claiming his innocence, Dani Alves also maintains in this interview that if he changed his version several times, going so far as to affirm in a video at the beginning of January that he had never met the complainant, it was so as not to jeopardize his marriage.
One of the most successful footballers in history, Alves had the most glorious period of his career at Barça, between 2008 and 2016, where he won 23 trophies. He also played for Juventus Turin and Paris Saint-Germain.
#Dani #Alves #stand #trial #rape