Spanish court denies Dani Alves’ request to suspend trial،
A Spanish court on Monday rejected Dani Alves' argument that he had been judged by the media and should be given more time to prepare his criminal charges for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in Barcelona in 2022.
Alves, 40, a former Brazil and Barcelona defender, was arrested in January 2023 and has since been held on remand in a prison outside the city.
Prosecutors accuse Alves of forcing the woman to have sex and not using a condom. They are seeking a nine-year prison sentence and Alves must pay damages worth €150,000 ($163,215) to the woman.
Alves initially denied any sexual relationship with the woman, whom he said he did not know. He later said he had consensual sex with her in a VIP toilet at a nightclub, adding that he initially denied this to protect his marriage.
Alves, dressed in blue jeans and a white shirt, sat in the front row of a courtroom at the Barcelona Provincial Court, the highest in the province, as his trial began on Monday.
His mother, accompanied by one of his brothers, blew him kisses and made a heart-shaped sign with her hands as Alves, handcuffed and escorted by police, entered the room.
The three-judge panel rejected the request for a stay of the trial made by Alves' lawyer, Ines Guardiola, on the grounds that he had not had sufficient time to prepare for his first interview with police after his arrest and that he had undergone a parallel trial by the media.
The Alves trial is expected to last three days.
The woman testified Monday in a closed session. She spoke from behind a screen, with her voice distorted to protect her identity.
A total of 30 people will testify, with Alves scheduled to testify last.
The case has attracted considerable attention, not only because Alves is a top athlete.
Sexual assault is a dominant political issue in Spain, even more so after the alleged non-consensual kiss that Luis Rubiales, then president of the Spanish Football Federation, allegedly planted on Jenni Hermoso's lips after the team's Cup triumph of the world last August.
Alves' trial is one of Spain's highest-profile cases since the country's government, passed in 2022, made consent a key factor in sexual assault cases and increased the minimum prison sentence for such attacks involving violence.
The law was prompted by the 2016 gang rape of a teenage girl during the San Fermín bullfighting festival, after the five men were initially found guilty by a lower court of sexual abuse, sparking massive protests. The country's highest court later found them guilty of rape.
The case sparked national soul-searching on the subject, which continues as rates of gender-based violence remain high.
In Spain, a rape complaint is now being investigated under the general charge of sexual assault, with rape being an aggravating circumstance.
Alves has won more than 40 trophies for Brazil and clubs including Barcelona, Sevilla, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain. After his arrest, he was fired by Mexico's Pumas UNAM.
