The footballer Dani Alves, sentenced to four and a half years in prison for rape, left the Brians 2 penitentiary center in Sant Esteve de Sesrovires yesterday afternoon where he has remained for the last 430 nights. Or what is the same, the last fourteen months, after being arrested on January 20 of last year for sexual assault.
With a serious face, his gaze fixed on an indeterminate point of infinity and without being disturbed by the large presence of journalists, the one who was one of the best soccer players in the world walked without haste the distance between the prison door and the car that took him. He moved to his home in Esplugues de Llobregat. A walking tour of just 28 seconds in which Alves did not respond to the flurry of questions that the reporters threw into the air and that were silenced by the shouts of the prison officials who took advantage of the presence of journalists to maintain the protests for the murder of the cook of Mas d'Enric, whose throat was slit by a prisoner.
Last Wednesday, section 21 of the Barcelona Court ordered provisional release with a bail of one million euros and several precautionary measures. A freedom order that had the dissenting vote of one of the three magistrates. A release questioned in recent days by a part of society that interpreted it as sending the message of first-class justice for the rich.
The court by majority understood that, after the sentence of four and a half years for rape, pending confirmation after the appeals presented by the parties, the risk of flight remains, but to a lesser degree. The third member of that same court, however, interpreted that it is now, after a conviction with proven facts, when there is greater danger of flight.
Among the measures to mitigate this risk of flight, the court imposed a high bail of one million euros, in line with the assets that an international soccer figure is understood to have. In reality, raising the money was not easy for him.
Since the same Wednesday that the release order was announced, lawyer Inés Guardiola led a transversal team that was in charge of raising the money on several fronts. They trusted the support of Neymar's family, who finally backed down after pressure from sponsors. They also did not manage to get any of the banking entities in which Alves has had capital to assign him a loan. Nor could they use the more than six million euros that the Tax Agency has already returned, but which are not yet available. Finally, a group of friends, among whom there could be an active soccer player, contributed money until they reached the amount that on Monday at 12 noon was deposited in the court account.
At five in the afternoon, Alves left the prison with Guardiola. During the day he took advantage of his last hours at the center to distribute the four things he had left. Basically sportswear. To the penitentiary center he wanted to deliver the copy of the Bible that has accompanied him these months, a fan and a box with books. Belongings that he gave to the head of prison services, in charge of managing his release and to whom he thanked for the treatment received.
Then he went to the storage room and picked up the personal items that he had left stored on the first day he entered prison and that he could not use: a watch, his wedding ring and his mobile phone. A person he trusts will come to the jail this week for four things that he left in storage.
From now on, every Friday you will have to go to the secretariat of section 21 of the Barcelona Court to sign. This Friday will not be necessary because it is a holiday, like Monday in Catalonia, and he will sign on Wednesday. He will do so accompanied by Inés Guardiola, the lawyer who took charge of his defense a few months before the trial, after asking Cristóbal Martell's permission, and who, against majority public opinion, achieved a sentence much lower than the one they requested. the accusations, four and a half years.
Until the appeals are resolved and the sentence is final, a period that can last several years, Dani Alves will not be able to leave Spain. He will have to always be contactable and available at a telephone number that he has already provided to the court. He will also not be able to approach or try to communicate with the victim.
Under intermittent rain that darkened the cold day in Sant Esteve Sesrovires, Dani Alves moved to his home in Esplugues de Llobregat. His lawyer has already presented an appeal of almost 200 pages in which she defends his acquittal, and the victim's lawyer, hers with a request for 12 years in prison.
