A Spanish court said on Tuesday that Brazilian defender Dani Alves will be tried on charges of sexually assaulting a woman in a nightclub last year.
The Barcelona-based court said that “there is sufficient evidence to begin a trial” given the statements submitted to the court and the evidence presented at the investigation stage. A date for the hearings has not yet been set.
Alves, 40, has been in pretrial detention since January, when he was arrested on charges of assaulting a woman in a nightclub in Barcelona on December 30. The investigating judge indicted him in August.
In an order, Section 21 of the Barcelona Supreme Court confirmed Alves’ trial, concluding that the statements of the victim and witnesses as well as the corroboration of experts provided sufficient evidence to prosecute him for sexual assault.
The former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain star was arrested last January after he was accused of raping a young woman in the bathroom of a nightclub in Barcelona on December 30 of last year.
Alves, 40, has since been held without bail in a Barcelona prison, and the court rejected his requests for release because he is considered a flight risk.
When these accusations first surfaced, Alves denied in a television interview that he knew the woman in question. He later said that the sex with the accused was consensual.
Alves’ contract with Pumas UNAM, the club he joined after leaving Barcelona in June 2022, was terminated on January 20.
Following Tuesday’s court order, the district attorney’s office and victim-appointed prosecutors will have five business days to file their interim statements, in which they must debate whether Alves should be acquitted or convicted and, if so, what punishment they believe should be applied.
After submitting these statements, a trial date will be set.
Under Spain’s sexual consent law passed last year, a sexual assault charge covers a wide range of crimes, from online abuse and groping to rape, each with different potential penalties. The penalty for rape can reach a maximum of 15 years in prison.
ESPN’s Adriana Garcia in Spain contributed to this report.
