Former Barcelona defender Brazilian Dani Alves will remain in pre-trial detention awaiting trial on rape charges as he poses a high risk, according to the Barcelona District Court on Tuesday, for committing a crime and having significant financial means that would allow him to leave Spain in any time. The court considered that the confiscation of the passport of 39-year-old El Fish would not prevent him from leaving Spain “by air, sea or even land without documents.”
If he returns to his homeland, Brazil, the court considers that he will not be extradited to Spain because the South American country does not usually extradite its citizens. Prosecutors opposed his release after a young woman alleged on January 2 that Alves had raped her in the bathroom of a nightclub in Barcelona in late December.
Sources close to the case said the player, who initially denied knowledge of the allegations against him, changed his story several times but later stated that what happened between him and the woman happened with the consent of both parties. Alves is on trial for sexual assault, which in Spain’s penal code includes rape.
The investigating judge last January ruled that al-Fish should remain in pre-trial detention, taking into account, among other things, inconsistencies in his initial testimony and the high risk of absconding. Notably, Alves was expelled from his Mexican club Pumas Onam after his arrest.
