Ex-Barcelona footballer, sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for rape, released on bail of 1 million euros

Former FC Barcelona player Danny Alves, who was sentenced to 4.5 years for raping a girl in a nightclub, was released by a Barcelona court on bail of 1 million euros. Marca reports this. He can only remain free until all appeals are finalized, but if the conviction is confirmed, he will return to prison. Both passports were taken from the athlete—Spanish and Brazilian—so that he could not leave the country until the end of the proceedings, and he was required to report to the police every week. In addition, the court prohibited him from approaching the girl who accused him within a distance of 1,000 meters, including her place of work and places she often visits.

The incident occurred back in 2022. According to the girl who accused him of raping him at the Barcelona nightclub Sutton, he dragged her into the toilet, began to molest her and put his hands under her clothes. Afterwards, he forced her to have oral sex and raped her: according to the victim, she did not consent to sex. The girl was 23 years old at that time, the football player was 39.

Alves first denied that he had ever met the victim, and then said that they had sex, but by mutual consent. He lied, he said, because he wanted to save his marriage to his wife, Spanish model Joana Sanz. This did not help: when the story became public, she filed for divorce.

In February, Alves was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for rape and ordered to pay the victim 150 thousand euros. The prosecutor asked for a 9-year prison sentence for the football player.

Dani Alves played for Barcelona from 2008 to 2016 and from 2021 to 2022, and is the second most decorated footballer in history after his former teammate Lionel Messi - Alves is just one trophy shy of him.