BARCELONA.- The Brazilian footballer Daniel Alves will remain in prison for at least another night as he has not yet deposited the bail of one million euros determined by a Spanish court to grant him provisional freedom while the appeals against his sentence for rape are resolved.
The defense of the athlete, sentenced last month to four and a half years in prison, did not manage to deposit the amount before 2:00 p.m. (1:00 p.m. GMT), which is when the daily deadline ends, legal sources indicated. Alves will therefore have to spend at least one more night in the prison near Barcelona where he has been since the end of January 2023.
The date of his departure from the center will depend on when he manages to raise the amount set by the judges in their decision on Wednesday, when they authorized his provisional release if he deposits a bond of one million euros (almost 1.1 million dollars).
So that he can wait in freedom until his sentence is final, the court also imposed other measures such as the withdrawal of his two passports, the obligation to appear weekly at the Court, not to leave the national territory or the prohibition of approaching the victim
The judges' decision was announced the day after the hearing in which the Brazilian's defense had requested his release on provisional release while the appeals against his conviction were resolved, which could take months, and despite the opposition of the Prosecutor's Office and the private prosecution.
Response of the other party to the bond:
The victim's lawyer, Ester García, already announced that she would appeal the authorization to release the soccer player, and regretted that “it seems that justice is being done for the rich.”
After a high-profile trial, section 21 of the Barcelona Court last month sentenced Alves to four and a half years in prison for having raped a woman in the bathrooms of a nightclub in that Spanish city. ±ola at the end of 2022.
The sentence, now appealed by all parties, also imposed an additional five years of supervised release, a restraining order for the victim for nine and a half years and the payment of compensation of 150,000 euros.
