A BARCELONA court has rejected appeals on Wednesday to overturn bail that was granted to ex-footballer Dani Alves.
The former Barcelona star was released from prison on March 25, after paying €1 million in bail fees after being behind bars at Brians 2 prison since January 2023.
He was granted a provisional release last month while he appeals against the sentence and conviction that saw him given four and a half years behind bars for raping a young woman in the bathroom of a Barcelona nightclub in December 2022.
In its order, the court dismissed appeals filed by the Prosecutor’s Office and a private prosecution opposing bail.
The court ruled that ‘the purpose of pre-trial detention cannot, in any case, be to advance the effects of a hypothetical sentence that could be imposed on the accused, since for such purpose, the deprivation of liberty would exceed the constitutional limits recognized in article 17 of the Spanish Constitution’.
It added that the Constitution ‘recognises the right of every person to liberty, so that no one may be deprived of it, except in the cases established in said precept and in the cases and forms provided for by law’.
One argument against bail was that Alves was deemed by prosecutors to be a flight risk,
The court said that ‘ll the circumstances have already been analysed in the contested decision, as well as his family ties, without any new element having been introduced that would lead to their reconsideration’.
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