A Spanish court overturned former Barcelona and Brazil footballer Dani Alves' sexual assault conviction on Friday, citing "insufficient evidence" to uphold his presumption of guilt. Alves, 41, had been sentenced to four and a half years in prison in February 2024 for allegedly raping a woman at a nightclub in December 2022. However, the ruling was reversed by a panel of four judges in Barcelona.
The landmark case was Spain's first high-profile trial under the 2022 "only yes means yes" legal reforms, which emphasise explicit consent in sexual crime cases. The legislation, introduced after national outrage over a 2016 gang-rape case at the San Fermin bull-running festival, defines consent as an active and clear expression of will, rejecting silence or passivity as agreement.
