Spanish prosecutors to appeal football player Dani Alves' rape acquittal

The Catalan Prosecutor's Office has announced its plans to appeal the acquittal of former Dani Alves, the Brazilian football star who was cleared of rape charges last week.

In a landmark moment on Friday, a Spanish court of appeal stated there was “insufficient evidence” to rule out Alves' presumption of innocence.

The decision came more than a year after a February 2024 ruling found the Barcelona defender guilty of having raped a woman in a nightclub toilet back in December 2022.

“Dani Alves is innocent, and that has been proven,” his defence lawyer Inés Guardiola told Catalan radio RAC1. “Justice has finally been served.”

Although Spanish state prosecutors plan to appeal, for the case to reach another court, the Supreme Court in Madrid must agree to review the decision to acquit Alves.

Ahead of last year's trial, the alleged victim of the nightclub incident told state prosecutors she had danced with Alves at a nightclub before willingly entering the toilets with him.

She claimed that when she decided to leave the toilets, he did not let her, then slapped her, insulted her and forced her to have sex with him against her will.

Alves, who was sentenced to four years and six months in prison at last year's three-day trial, has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

While the case itself has lasted more than three years, the player has spent a total of 14 months in jail.

The Alves trial was the first high-profile case in Spain since the country's rape laws were overhauled in 2022 to oblige defendants to prove they had obtained sexual consent from accusers and eliminate a distinction between sexual crimes.

The measure was introduced after the 2016 gang rape of an 18-year-old woman at the San Fermin bull-running festival in Pamplona. The so-called "wolf pack" of men who filmed themselves attacking her were initially convicted of a lesser offence before the Supreme Court eventually upgraded their sentences.

The original verdict sparked nationwide protests.