Brazilian footballer Dani Alves can be released from jail on a 1 million euro ($1.1 million) bail while he appeals his rape conviction, after serving about a quarter of his four-and-a-half-year sentence, a Barcelona court ruled on Wednesday.
The conditions for Alves’ release include relinquishing both his Brazilian and Spanish passports so he cannot leave Spain as well as an obligation to appear before the court on a weekly basis or whenever summoned.
The court also imposed a restraining order barring Alves from coming within 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) of the victim.
The former Barcelona, Juventus and PSG defender has been held at a Barcelona prison since January 2023. He was convicted on Feb. 22 of raping a woman in the restroom of a Barcelona nightclub in 2022 and ordered to pay her 150,000 euros. He has appealed the conviction.
In its ruling, the court’s majority cited an article in the Spanish constitution enshrining a person’s right to freedom and said it superseded the function of a prison on remand, as Alves’ conviction was not yet final.
“To me, it’s a scandal that they let a person who they know can get a million euros in no time walk free,” the victim’s lawyer, Ester Garcia, told RAC1 radio station immediately after the ruling.
The decision, which was not unanimous due to a dissenting vote from one of the three judges on the panel, can be appealed.
Garcia said she was “outraged and dissatisfied” with the ruling, adding it was “a justice (system) for the rich” and that she would lodge an appeal.
Alves’ lawyer was not immediately available for comment.