Soccer-Spanish court overturns Dani Alves' rape conviction

By Emma Pinedo and Joan Faus

MADRID (Reuters) - The top court in Spain's Catalonia region on Friday overturned Brazilian soccer player Dani Alves' rape conviction, saying the case against him had inconsistencies and contradictions.

The 41-year-old defender was convicted last year of raping a woman in the restroom of a Barcelona nightclub in 2022 and sentenced to 4-1/2 years in prison.

"Dani Alves is very happy. He is innocent, that is demonstrated. Justice has spoken," Ines Guardiola, lawyer for the former Barcelona, PSG and Juventus player, told RAC1 radio.

In its appeal ruling, the Catalan high court said the accuser's testimony lacked reliability over facts that could be objectively verified through video, "explicitly indicating that what she recounted does not correspond to reality".

"The inadequacies of the evidence lead to the conclusion that the standard required by the presumption of innocence has not been met," it said, noting "a series of gaps, inaccuracies, inconsistencies and contradictions concerning the facts, the legal assessment and its consequences".

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Alves had already been released from prison on a 1 million euro ($1.1 million) bail while awaiting the appeal.

He may now leave the country as the Catalan court lifted all restrictions, including a travel ban and restraining order, plus the payment of compensation.

The court said that the alleged victim's argument that she went with Alves into the restroom for fear that his friends might follow them did not appear reasonable, concluding that she instead "voluntarily went to the bathroom area for the purpose of being with the defendant in a more intimate space".

It added that CCTV footage did not allow any inference about whether she consented to the subsequent interaction or not.

Ester Garcia, the accuser's lawyer, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The regional prosecutor's office declined to comment.

The decision can still be appealed to the Supreme Court.

($1 = 0.9282 euros)

(Reporting by Emma Pinedo and Joan Faus; Writing by David Latona; Editing by Inti Landauro and Andrew Cawthorne)