“We dismiss the appeal filed by the procedural representation of Daniel Alves da Silva,” the magistrates wrote in their decision published this Monday, once again closing the door for the soccer player to await trial, still without a date, in freedom.
After analyzing the new allegations and proceedings, the magistrates of the Court of Barcelona, who had already denied another request from the player in February, reaffirmed that “the evidence of criminality that at the time we valued as sufficient to impute the fact and as a basis for the precautionary measure remain unchanged”.
The judges also do not consider it sufficient, for example, that Alves’ children have registered near Barcelona to justify their roots in the country.
“The flight risk remains and continues to be based on the reasons that we have already stated and to which we must necessarily refer. We believe that no other precautionary measure can neutralize said risk with sufficient guarantees,” they reiterate.
This new request – which tried to reverse another refusal to release him, pronounced this time by the investigating judge in May – was once again opposed by both the Prosecutor’s Office and the private prosecution.
Alves, 40, has been in provisional prison, communicated and without bail since January 20, for an open case for an alleged crime of sexual assault, which in Spain includes rape. A young woman accuses him of having raped him in the private bathrooms of a Barcelona nightclub at the end of December.
The version of the athlete, who initially claimed not to know the complainant, has changed several times. In April he testified again at his own request before the investigating judge and affirmed that they had consensual sexual relations, but said that she initially denied it to try to cover up the infidelity to his then partner.
The most successful footballer in history, with 43 titles, Alves lived the most glorious stage of his career at Barça, between 2008 and 2016, when he won 23 trophies along with Messi, Xavi and Iniesta, but also played for teams like Juventus, the Paris Saint-Germain or the Mexican Pumas.
In Qatar, he became the oldest Brazilian footballer to line up for a World Cup.