A Spanish prosecutor is pursuing a nine-year prison sentence for Dani Alves, the former Barcelona and Brazil football player, who is set to face trial on charges of sexual assault against a woman in Barcelona last year, as revealed in a court document Thursday.
Alves, who has been held in prison since his arrest on Jan. 20, allegedly violently assaulted a woman in the bathroom of the VIP area in a Barcelona nightclub early in the morning of Dec. 31, the document said.
Alves has said that he had consensual sex with his accuser after initially denying any sexual encounter with her.
The prosecutor also asked for restraining orders for Alves following the jail term and for him to pay damages worth 150,000 euros ($163,605) to the woman.
In August, a court in the Barcelona area formally indicted Alves after finding evidence of wrongdoing by the 40-year-old player and later decided there were enough pieces of evidence to send him to trial. No date has yet been set.
In Spain, a claim of rape is investigated under the general accusation of sexual assault and convictions can lead to prison sentences of between four and 15 years.
