The second day of the Dani Alves trial — considered the ‘trial of the year’ in Spain — started on time, unlike on Monday. The area around the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Catalunya (High Court of Justice of Catalonia) in Barcelona was just as packed, but the process was much quicker.
Proceedings on Tuesday started at 3pm local time and lasted until shortly after 6pm, with a half-hour break in between.
Alves was again present in the courtroom, moved from the court cells to the dock. He sat dressed in a long-sleeved grey polo shirt and was wearing glasses.
He has been in detention since his arrest for alleged sexual assault — a charge he has repeatedly denied — in January last year.
After hearing the testimony of the alleged victim, her friend and cousin, two waiters and the doorman of the Sutton nightclub on Monday, on Tuesday it was the turn of 21 further witnesses. That included Alves’ wife Joana Sanz and Bruno Brasil — Alves’ friend who was with him on the night of December 30 2022, when it is alleged Alves raped a 23-year-old woman in a private toilet in the Sutton nightclub, which Alves denies.
The first to testify was the manager of the nightclub, Robert Massanet.
Massanet said his attention was first drawn when he saw three young women, including the…
