The statue of Dani Alves in Juazeiro, his hometown, has already been vandalized on several occasions following the four and a half year prison sentence handed down in Spain against the footballer for rape. His presence there is the subject of debate and the request to withdraw it has already reached the Brazilian justice system from an activist.
Manuella Tyler Medrado submitted the request to the Public Ministry of the state of Bahia, which was sent to the Municipal Prosecutor’s Office to analyze it and decide if any action needs to be taken. “Sexual crimes have to be repudiated,” said the activist in an interview with the EFE news agency and reproduced by several Spanish and Brazilian media.
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The statue was inaugurated in 2020 and reproduces in life size the former FC Barcelona full-back wearing the Brazil national team shirt. The Juazeiro authorities indicated that they are not going to take a position on his presence until the legal process against Alves concludes, on provisional release while the appeals presented on the first ruling are defined.
VÍDEO | Una activista lleva a la Justicia su petición para la retirada de la estatua de Dani Alves en Juazeiro, su ciudad natal. pic.twitter.com/tUouCZKa8g
— EFE Deportes (@EFEdeportes) March 29, 2024
Alves left Brians 2 prison last Monday, where he had been held since January 2023, after paying bail of one million euros. By granting him the benefit, the court demanded that the athlete hand over his Spanish and Brazilian passports to prevent escape and that he keep a kilometer away from the victim.
The footballer, 40, was found guilty of raping a woman in the bathrooms of the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona on the night of December 30, 2022. Alves said there was consent and he denied having been violent. However, the court that tried the incident rejected his version and explained that “for the existence of sexual assault it is not necessary that physical injuries occur, nor that there be evidence of heroic opposition on the part of the victim to having sexual relations.”
