Fury as Dani Alves is released from prison pending appeal against rape conviction
A decision to free Dani Alves from prison on bail of 1 million euros (£854,000) pending an appeal against his rape conviction has been condemned by his victim’s lawyer as justice “for the rich”.
A “surprised and outraged” Ester Garcia vowed to lodge an appeal of her own against the former Barcelona full-back being granted a chance of freedom less than a month after he was jailed for assaulting her client on New Year’s Eve 2022.
Garcia told Spain’s El món a RAC1 podcast: “It is a scandal that they let him go free... It seems that justice is being done for the rich.
“They said that he has a small financial capacity right now, but I have no doubt that he will get the million from wherever he is.”
Alves, who appealed a guilty verdict that saw him jailed for four-and-a-half years, had gone to court on Tuesday asking to be released on bail, arguing he had already served a quarter of his sentence while remanded in custody.
Conditions imposed on his release included relinquishing both his Brazilian and Spanish passports to prevent him absconding and an obligation to appear before the court on a weekly basis.
Wednesday’s decision, which was not unanimous among those judges involved, also forbade Alves from approaching his victim.
Alves was convicted of raping the woman at a Spanish nightclub following a three-day trial last month and ordered to her €150,000 (£128,000) in compensation.
The 40-year-old father-of-two learnt his fate after being held in custody for more than a year since his arrest on suspicion of “sexual assault with penetration”.
He had been denied bail after being deemed a flight risk, with Brazilian law meaning its citizens cannot be extradited by the country.
In deciding on the sentence, the court took into account Alves’ having put up €150,000 in compensation for the victim before the trial, whatever the result.
Alves, during the trial, denied any wrongdoing.
