Convicted rapist Dani Alves leaves Spain jail after posting bail

Convicted rapist and former Brazil international Dani Alves left a prison near Barcelona on Monday after posting the ¤1mil (Rm5mil) bail set by a court to ensure his release pending appeal.

The 40-year-old has been in jail since his arrest in January 2023 on suspicion of raping a young woman in the VIP bathroom of a Barcelona nightclub in the early hours of Dec 31, 2022.

Wearing jeans, a white poloneck and black jacket, his face expressionless, Alves walked out of the Brians 2 prison in San Esteban Sasroviras near Barcelona with his lawyer, reporters said.

He got into a white car without saying a word to the hordes of reporters waiting nearby, just hours after depositing the sum determined by the court five days earlier.

The former Barcelona player, one of the world’s most decorated footballers, was convicted last month and sentenced to fourand-a-half years in jail, with his lawyers swiftly moving to file an appeal.

But in a surprise move, the court agreed last Wednesday to conditionally release him conditionally in exchange for posting a ¤1mil, handing over his Spanish and Brazilian passports, staying in Spain and presenting himself to court every week.

Alves had tried to make bail several times since his arrest but his requests were turned down on the basis he was a flight risk since Brazil does not extradite citizens sentenced in other countries.

Alves’ lawyers are seeking his acquittal, and the appeal process could take months to complete.

Prosecutors, however, want his prison sentence doubled to nine years.

They and the victim’s lawyer Ester Garcia have appealed the decision to grant Alves bail.

“This sends the message that this is justice for the rich, and even if there is a conviction, if you pay bail there are no criminal consequences,” she told reporters last week.

“It’s a very dangerous message for society,” she added, saying her client was “totally outraged, very despondent and very frustrated”.