Spanish prosecutors are pursuing a nine-year prison sentence for former Brazil star Dani Alves, who faces accusations of assaulting a young woman at a Barcelona nightclub in December 2022.
Additionally, prosecutors have urged the former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain full-back, currently detained in Spain since his January arrest, to compensate his alleged victim with 150,000 euros ($163,500), as detailed in his indictment reviewed by AFP on Thursday.
A trial date has yet to be scheduled. Despite the allegations, the 40-year-old has consistently asserted that the encounter was consensual.
“In relation to what happened that night in the VIP area’s bathroom at Sutton nightclub, I have a clear conscience,” he conveyed in an interview with La Vanguardia, a Barcelona-based newspaper, published in June. This interview marked his first public statement since his arrest.
“I have a really clear conscience regarding what happened that night in the bathroom of the VIP area of the Sutton nightclub,” he told Barcelona-based newspaper La Vanguardia in an interview published in June, his first since his arrest.
“What happened and what didn’t happen? And what didn’t happen is that I forced this woman to do anything that we did,” he added.
But when the story first broke — and before he was arrested — Alves in a television interview initially denied knowing the woman who filed a police complaint against him on January 2.
“I was dancing and having a good time without invading anyone’s space,” he told Spanish TV channel Antena 3
“I don’t know who this lady is. How could I do that to a woman? No.”
Alves told La Vanguardia that he had lied at first because he was afraid his wife would leave him if he admitted he had been with another woman.
The indictment offers a detailed description of what, according to prosecutors, happened at the upscale Sutton nightclub.
After meeting at the venue, Alves invited the woman to enter a small enclosure which she says she did not know was a toilet.
Once inside, the footballer showed a “violent attitude” towards the woman, whom he forced to have intercourse despite her resistance.
Under Spain’s sexual consent law passed last year, the charge of sexual assault takes in a wide array of crimes from online abuse and groping to rape, each with different possible punishments. A case of rape can carry a maximum sentence of 15 years.
At the time of the incident, Alves was on holiday in Barcelona after playing for Brazil at the World Cup in Qatar.
Following his arrest, Alves faced dismissal from his Mexican club Pumas UNAM.
Throughout his illustrious career, Alves amassed an impressive collection of 42 trophies, securing three Champions League titles with Barcelona and earning two Copa America triumphs with Brazil.
His tenure as a player at last year’s World Cup finals in Qatar was remarkable, as he became the oldest representative for Brazil in the prestigious football event.
