The family of former Barcelona and Brazil star Dani Alves has quashed rumors alleging that the 40-year-old player had passed away.
Speculation that Alves had taken his own life in prison, where he was serving a four-and-a-half-year sentence after being found guilty of rape, emerged on Saturday evening after a social media user posted about it.
On Sunday, Nay Alves, the brother of the former Brazilian footballer, issued a statement reassuring the world that the player was alive and had not taken his own life as claimed. He also took the opportunity to condemn those who had spread the distressing allegations.
“How cruel can humans be? He has already been judged based on the words of a woman who entered a men’s room to do what she knows best. He has already been judged, is that not enough?” wrote the player’s brother on Instagram alongside a picture of the two of them together.
He added, “It’s not enough. Now the crazies want to see him dead, how cruel can you be? My father is over 70 years old. My mother is over 60 years old. They don’t have a family, do they? Are these pages continuing to spread these things?”
Mr. Nay Alves posted more messages and pictures about his brother’s situation in prison, calming down fans who had believed the reports of his death.
A court in Spain found Dani Alves guilty of raping a woman at a Barcelona nightclub. He was later sentenced to four and a half months in prison on February 22, and additionally, he was sentenced to five years of supervised freedom, with all contact with the victim suspended for nine years and six months.
Furthermore, he was required to pay a compensation of €150,000 and court costs. The former footballer has already served one year, one month, and 18 days in jail.
