Barcelona (Spain), Mar 20 (AP) A Spanish court has decided to release Brazilian soccer star Dani Alves if he pays a bail of a million euros (USD 1.1 million) and hands over his passports while awaiting the appeal of his conviction for raping a woman in Barcelona.

The court issued the ruling on Wednesday.

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Alves was convicted in February and sentenced to four years and six months in prison for having raped a woman in a nightclub in 2022.

He has been behind bars since being arrested in January 2023. His prior requests to be let free on bail were denied because the court deemed him a flight risk.

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To now go free, in addition to the bail money, Alves is also required to hand over his Brazilian and Spanish passports and is prohibited from leaving the country.

Both his defence lawyer and the state prosecutor have appealed the conviction. His defense is seeking his acquittal while the prosecutor wants his prison sentence increased to nine years. There is no date yet for the new trial at a higher court in Barcelona. It can then go to the Supreme Court in Madrid. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)