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Daniel Alves was convicted in February 2024 to four years and six months in prison for sexual assault against a young woman in a Barcelona nightclub in a case in December 2022.
However, in March this year, the Catalonia Superior Court annulled the conviction and acquitted Alves unanimously. The jury, consisting of three women and one man, concluded that the decision that condemned him contained a series of “gaps, inaccuracies, inconsistencies and contradictions about the facts.” In addition, he pointed to the lack of reliability in the victim’s testimony.
“The divergence between what the complainant reported and what really happened seriously compromises the reliability of its history, ”said the decision of the Court of Catalonia.
In that decision, the TJSC stated that, “by the evidence presented, it cannot be concluded that the standards required by the presumption of innocence have been overcome.” The court also considered that it did not “prove” the accusation did not mean that Daniel Alves’s version was true. He was therefore acquitted by “lack of proof”, which does not mean that he was considered innocent.
The young man’s lawyer who accuses Daniel Alves of sexual aggression stated that she will still evaluate if she will come with an appeal against the sentence, but that this could represent an extension of the “hell” lived by her client.
Although this case has not been tried in Brazil, he exposes the total discredit given to the Women’s Word. Although Daniel Alves changed his version of the facts more than five times, the court ignored this “detail” and disregarded the victim as reliable.
Attention draws asymmetry in the evaluation of the tests. The victim’s testimony was considered unreliable, even though there was evidence of physical aggression attested by the coroner, semen compatible with Daniel Alves’s in his body, recording of the young woman crying after the act and no indication of financial advantage for the complainant. Still, the athlete’s mother publicly revealed the girl’s identity, a gesture that, by itself, already configures a form of psychological and moral violence.
Was Daniel Alves change his version five times that gave him credibility? Or was Neymar’s financial support, another influential and rich player? The presumption of innocence is a fundamental principle, but it seems to be more rigorously applied when it comes to rich and famous men. Selectivity in its application is evident.
The truth is that women need to prove much more, both when they are floor and when they are victims. The tendency is to disqualify their complaints, perpetuating a structure that naturalizes violence against women and protects the powerful – a true grinding machine.
Daniel Alves’s acquittal represents a setback for all survivors of sexual violence. This episode has brutally wide the levels of revitimization to which a woman is subjected to reporting an abuse. It highlights how the legal system, anywhere in the world, refuses to validate the testimony of rape victims as sufficient evidence to condemn an aggressor.
This case is symbolic because it reinforces a narrative against which we insist on resisting: that denouncing a rape is useless. The message conveyed by this decision is clear: If not a widely publicized case, with an initial sentence based on sufficient evidence for a conviction, was treated seriously, how can anonymous women trust the courts?
In Brazil, the conviction at the International Court contributed to advance with the Maria da Penha Law. Similarly, through social and media repercussion, we won the laws Mariana Ferrer and Carolina Dieckmann. We only advanced when we come together and make noise. CALL, WE WILL NOT WIN.
Unfortunately, money, patriarchy, influence and machismo spoke louder. Perhaps it is time to rethink the structures of the justice system. We will follow firmly in the struggle for justice, trying to leave a better legacy for future generations. As my grandmother said, “It’s not what things should be, it’s how things are.
Vanessa Paes
Vanessa Paes
Attorney
