Spanish prosecutors appeal the overturning of Dani Alves' conviction
The Spanish prosecutor's office has appealed to the Supreme Court against the annulment of Dani Alves' rape conviction, arguing that the decision was based on "erroneous" and "even arbitrary" conclusions and that it "morally condemned" the complainant by denying her credibility.
The public prosecutor, who had already announced his intention to challenge the decision handed down at the end of March by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia, believes that the latter made
" a thoughtless and irrational assessment " of certain evidence in the case, according to his conclusions published this Wednesday.
The former Barça right-back, who had been sentenced at first instance to four and a half years in prison for rape, was acquitted on March 28 by the Barcelona Court of Appeal, which pointed out the complainant's lack of
"credibility" and "insufficiencies" in the evidence provided. The magistrates then also rejected the public prosecutor's appeal against the first sentence. The prosecution again requested a nine-year prison sentence for the former player.
"A completely arbitrary and cruel decision towards the young woman, who is morally condemned."
In this new appeal, the prosecution considers that the conclusions of the Catalan court, which had notably pointed out the discrepancy between the attitude of the complainant recorded by surveillance cameras and her account, are
"completely erroneous and irrational, even arbitrary" .
"It would seem that we are taking up the medieval postulate according to which a woman who agrees to get drunk with a man agrees to everything. No, she only agrees to drink" , criticizes the prosecution.
The conclusion of the appeal judges
"is completely arbitrary and cruel to the young woman, who is morally condemned and presented as unreliable ," he also assures.
Dani Alves was accused of raping a young woman during the night of December 30-31, 2022, in the VIP area of a Barcelona nightclub. He has always denied this, claiming that the sexual relationship was consensual, although he has changed his story several times. At the time of the overturning of his conviction, Dani Alves was on parole after spending 14 months in prison .
Le parquet espagnol a fait appel devant la cour suprême de l'annulation de la condamnation pour viol de Dani Alves, estimant que cette décision était fondée sur des conclusions « erronées », « voire arbitraires » et qu'elle « condamnait moralement » la plaignante en niant sa crédibilité.
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