The court considers that “there is a high risk of flight linked, on the one hand, to the high penalty that may be imposed in the present case, the severe indications of criminality against him and the bulky economic capacity that would allow him, as we have said, to leave Spain in any time,” the court said in a statement.
For the court, withdrawing the passport of the 39-year-old former FC Barcelona player would not “prevent him (…) from leaving Spain by air or sea or even by land without documentation,” the statement continued.
If he arrived in Brazil, “he would not be handed over to Spain or through international arrest or extradition orders,” he continued, since the South American country does not usually extradite its citizens.
In fact, the victim’s lawyer recalled, to oppose parole, the case of another former Brazilian soccer player, Robinho, sentenced to nine years in prison in Italy for the gang rape of a young woman in 2013, but who lives quietly in his country.
Nor would the imposition of a large bail serve as a deterrent to Alves, since “he has a large patrimony,” the court estimated.
The player’s defense had also proposed that an electronic monitoring device be placed on him, but the court considered that these devices “are not intended to geolocate the person who has it installed, but rather to protect the victim and prevent a restraining order from being issued.” unfulfilled”.
Both the Prosecutor’s Office and the private prosecution opposed his release.
On January 2, a young woman reported that Alves had raped her in the private bathroom of a Barcelona nightclub at the end of December.
The player, who initially denied knowing her, changed his version several times but ended up admitting that they had had consensual relationships, according to sources close to the case.
The investigating judge of the case opened for an alleged crime of sexual assault -which in the Spanish criminal code includes rape- decreed on January 20 his entry into preventive detention, communicated and without bail taking into account, among other things, the contradictions in his first statements and the high risk of flight.
The most successful footballer in history, with 43 titles, Alves lived the most glorious stage of his career at Barça, between 2008 and 2016, when together with names like Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta he won 23 titles, including three Leagues of Champions, six Spanish Leagues and four Copas del Rey.
In Qatar, he became the oldest Brazilian footballer to line up for a World Cup.
