The Spanish Public Prosecution Service appealed from Daniel Alves’s acquittal to the Supreme Court, considering that the decision contains “erroneous” or “even arbitrary” conclusions and that “morally condemns” the complainant of rape not to properly evaluate some of the evidence presented and deny its reliability.
In its memorandum, to which AFP had access, the Public Prosecution Service criticizes the decision made at the end of March by the TSJC (Catalonia Superior Court), accusing him of having “unreflected and irrational assessment” of some of the evidence.
Judges of the Appeal Court annulled the penalty of four years and six months imposed on Daniel Alves for a woman’s rape in 2022 that Barcelona’s provincial hearing had issued last year, considering that there was “insufficient evidence” in the sentence and describe the author’s testimony as “not reliable”.
They also rejected the appeal against the first sentence presented by the prosecutor, who had again requested nine years in prison for the former athlete, and the private prosecution, who had been requested 12 years.
In its new appeal, the Public Prosecution Service considers the conclusions of the TSJC “completely erroneous and irrational, even arbitrary,” especially with regard to the apparent disparity between the victim’s behavior captured by the camera and its report.
“It seems to relive the medieval postulate that ‘a woman who consents to drunk with a man consent to everything’. It’s not the case; she just consents to get drunk,” criticizes the MP in the memorandum.
The prosecutor also questions whether the biological traces found in the victim’s mouth prove that there was oral sex. Therefore, the deduction of the judges of appeal “is completely arbitrary and cruel to the young woman, who is morally condemned and considered unreliable,” he says.
The incident occurred in the private bathroom of a Barcelona nightclub at dawn on December 31, 2022, where the complainant claimed that the former Brazilian team player forced her to have sex, which Alves, who changed his version several times, always said it was consensual.
With the ruling, the appeal judges acquitted the former Barça player, who had been on parole a year after spending 14 months in prison, and canceled the precautionary measures.
The decision was harshly criticized by feminist groups and several left -wing ministers of Pedro Sánchez.
The complainant’s lawyer also resorted to the acquittal.
