Brazilian star footballer Dani Alves is, arguably, the most effective right-backs within the trendy sport. A Barcelona legend, Alves made historical past final yr, when – at 39 years and 210 days – he turned the oldest Brazilian to begin a World Cup match, taking the sphere towards Cameroon within the Qatar World Cup.
However, he has been in information in current months for a fallacious motive. Alves, 40, is accused of sexually assaulting a girl in a nightclub in Barcelona on December 30. He was provisionally detained in January in Spain. Alves has denied any wrongdoing and stated intercourse with the accuser was consensual.
Alves had returned to Spain from Mexico, the place he was taking part in for Pumas UNAM. They’ve since terminated his contract.
Earlier this week, a Spanish courtroom rejected his bail plea. His lawyer had requested for him to be launched if he surrendered his passport and wore an digital tag.
The courtroom had beforehand denied an analogous request by Alves’s defence workforce in Might.
The courtroom rejected the request, saying it thought-about him to be a flight danger. “There’s a excessive danger of fleeing as… the extreme punishment he faces within the current case and his financial [resources] would possibly would make it doable for him… to depart Spain at any time,” the Barcelona courtroom stated in a press release.
Alves’s legal professionals had tried to discredit testimony by the alleged sufferer and different witnesses by presenting safety digital camera footage displaying that Alves and the sufferer have been flirting with one another on the nightclub. However the courtroom stated in its ruling on Monday that the flirting shouldn’t in any method justify an eventual sexual assault.
Below Spain’s sexual consent regulation handed final yr, sexual assault takes in a wide selection of crimes from on-line abuse and groping to rape, every with completely different doable punishments. A case of rape can obtain a most sentence of 15 years.
Alves performed 408 matches for Barcelona throughout two spells, successful six La Liga titles and three Champions Leagues between 2008 and 2016. He had briefly rejoined Barcelona final season earlier than taking part in on the World Cup with Brazil in Qatar.
He has gained two Confederations Cup (2009, 2013) with Brazil, two Copa Americas (2007, 2019) and an Olympic gold at Tokyo in 2020.
One other Bazilian star within the dock
In the meantime, a excessive courtroom in Brazil will transfer ahead with Italy’s case towards one other Brazilian star Robinho, who was sentenced in Europe to 9 years in jail for rape.
In a ruling late on Wednesday, Brazil’s superior courtroom of justice set a date of August 2 to determine whether or not the Italian authorities should translate Robinho’s full case into Portuguese after which ship it to Brazilian authorities for additional evaluation, as requested by the previous participant’s lawyer.
Italian authorities need the 39-year-old Robinho to serve his sentence in Brazil, however the Brazilian courtroom is but to agree. Brazil would not extradite nationals.
Robinho was convicted in Italy in 2017 for his half within the group sexual assault in Milan that came about 4 years beforehand, when he was taking part in for Serie A workforce AC Milan. Italy’s high courtroom upheld the Brazilian’s sentence in 2022, after which Italian prosecutors issued a global arrest warrant.
Robinho lives in Santos, exterior Sao Paulo. He relinquished his passport to Brazilian authorities in March.
His legal professionals declare he had consensual sexual relations at a bar with a younger lady, as 5 of his pals additionally did.
If the Brazilian courtroom rejects Robinho’s request for a full translation from Italy, it is going to be capable of rule on his future.
