BARCELONA: A Spanish judge on Friday ordered that Brazil soccer player Dani Alves be jailed on remand without bail over an alleged sexual assault of a woman in a Barcelona nightclub, the regional court system said.
The 39-year-old, who has denied any wrongdoing, was taken to the Brians 1 jail outside Barcelona, said a source with knowledge of the matter.
Earlier on Friday, Alves appeared before a Barcelona judge after local police detained and questioned him. The public prosecutor had requested he be jailed without bail pending trial.
Alves’ representatives did not respond to a request for comment.
Mexico’s top-flight soccer division, Liga MX, said it was following the case and Alves’ legal situation alongside club Pumas UNAM, where he currently plays, to determine “what is appropriate regarding his participation in the League.”
Pumas UNAM said it would “take the appropriate actions” and apply sanctions as “stipulated in the employment contract signed with the athlete.”
“The Club will inform as soon as possible what it determines in this case,” it added.
The alleged victim had filed a complaint earlier this month and the case remains open over a crime of sexual assault, Catalonia’s court system said in a statement.
Alves told Antena 3 TV earlier this month that he was at the club with other people but denied any such behavior.
“I was dancing and having a good time without invading anyone’s space,” he said. “I don’t know who this lady is... How could I do that to a woman? No.”
Alves played for Barcelona from 2008-2016 and briefly returned to the LaLiga team for the 2021-22 season.
He has played for the Brazil national team since 2006, making 126 appearances and scoring eight goals.
Brazil’s Dani Alves jailed on remand in Spain over sexual assault allegation
https://arab.news/cb9ma
Brazil’s Dani Alves jailed on remand in Spain over sexual assault allegation
- The 39-year-old, who has denied any wrongdoing, was taken to the Brians 1 jail outside Barcelona
- The public prosecutor had requested he be jailed without bail pending trial
Bangladesh begins exhuming mass grave from 2024 uprising
- The United Nations says up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns as Hasina attempted to cling to power — deaths that formed part of her conviction last month for crimes against humanity
DHAKA: Bangladeshi police began exhuming on Sunday a mass grave believed to contain around 114 unidentified victims of a mass uprising that toppled autocratic former prime minister Sheikh Hasina last year.
The UN-supported effort is being advised by Argentine forensic anthropologist Luis Fondebrider, who has led recovery and identification missions at mass graves worldwide for decades.
The bodies were buried at the Rayerbazar Graveyard in Dhaka by the volunteer group Anjuman Mufidul Islam, which said it handled 80 unclaimed bodies in July and another 34 in August 2024 — all people reported to have been killed during weeks of deadly protests.
The United Nations says up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns as Hasina attempted to cling to power — deaths that formed part of her conviction last month for crimes against humanity.
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief Md Sibgat Ullah said investigators believed the mass grave held roughly 114 bodies, but the exact number would only be known once exhumations were complete.
“We can only confirm once we dig the graves and exhume the bodies,” Ullah told reporters.
- ‘Searched for him’ -
Among those hoping for answers is Mohammed Nabil, who is searching for the remains of his brother Sohel Rana, 28, who vanished in July 2024.
“We searched for him everywhere,” Nabil told AFP.
He said his family first suspected Rana’s death after seeing a Facebook video, then recognized his clothing — a blue T-shirt and black trousers — in a photograph taken by burial volunteers.
Exhumed bodies will be given post-mortem examinations and DNA testing. The process is expected to take several weeks to complete.
“It’s been more than a year, so it won’t be possible to extract DNA from the soft tissues,” senior police officer Abu Taleb told AFP. “Working with bones would be more time-consuming.”
Forensic experts from four Dhaka medical colleges are part of the team, with Fondebrider brought in to offer support as part of an agreement with the UN rights body the OHCHR.
“The process is complex and unique,” Fondebrider told reporters. “We will guarantee that international standards will be followed.”
Fondebrider previously headed the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team, founded in 1984 to investigate the tens of thousands who disappeared during Argentina’s former military dictatorship.
Authorities say the exhumed bodies will be reburied in accordance with religious rites and their families’ wishes.
Hasina, convicted in absentia last month and sentenced to death, remains in self-imposed exile in India.
