Former player was acquitted, on Friday (28), by the Court of Justice of Catalonia, of his conviction of four years and six months in prison for sexual assault
Esther García, representative of the young woman who accuses sexual assault, mourned the player’s acquittal at the Catalonia Court of Justice on Friday of her four-year conviction and six months in prison. The lawyer said she studies to file an appeal against the sentence, but tries to avoid the extension of the “hell” that her client would have passed.
“Legally, we will appeal the sentence, but we will take into account the customer’s emotional state,” Esther García told Spanish press on Friday. “Questioning a woman about whether she could be dancing in a nightclub before having sexual assault is a debate we should not have in the 21st century,” García noted.
According to the state station RTVEthe Barcelona Public Prosecution Service also analyzes the possibility of appealing to the Spanish Court of Spain, according to sources of the Public Prosecution Service.
According to Esther García, her client “is very disappointed, sad and, in a way, feels as if he had returned to the bathroom where the events occurred.” For the lawyer, acquittal was a surprise and “represents a setback, both legal and social, in the fight against sexual violence.” “Somehow, it can discourage women who report sexual violations after some time,” he told RTVE.
The lawyer also criticized the court’s ruling and stated that the acquittal “rejects the formulation of the sentence of first instance”, but does not evaluate “all evidence”, which would, according to her, be the function of a court of second instance.
Daniel Alves was acquitted on Friday by the Catalonia Court of Justice of his four-year conviction and six months in prison for sexual assault, against a young woman in a Barcelona nightclub in December 2022. The decision on the former player’s acquittal was unanimous and was based on “insufficient evidence” for the athlete to be convicted, initially.
The player was sentenced by the Barcelona Provincial Court on February 22, 2024. He had been preemptively arrested in January 2023 while waiting for a complaint and trial, and was on provisional release after paying a fine of 1 million euros ($ 5.4 million at the time). He would still have to fulfill two more years of his sentence.
The decision-favorable decision to the defender nullifies two other appeals, which ran in parallel at the Catalonia Court of Justice, both appealed to the increase in the sentence: the Public Prosecutor’s Office defended a nine-year conviction, while another action, filed by the victim’s representatives, asked to elevate it to 12 years.
Posted by Luisa Cardoso
*With information from Estadão Content
