Barcelona Court corrected the investigating judge and gave the green light for a psychologist appointed by the football player’s defense Dani Alves joins the discovery of the young woman accused of raping her at the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona on December 30.
In a car sent by ‘La Vanguardia’ to which Efe has access, The third part of the trial upheld Alves’ appeal against the investigating judge’s decision to prevent the young woman from being examined by a psychologist, Considering that it is the right of the accused to appoint an expert to be involved in the examination.
Alves’ defense request for an expert to attend the examination of the victimA test widely used in rape cases to determine whether the complainant has suffered sequelae compatible with sexual assault, was first adopted by the president of the review court no. 15 in Barcelona.
However, both the prosecution and the private prosecution initiated by the individual the victim objected to the judicial decision and the judge vetoed the presence of a defense expert in the forensic medical examination of the accused. victim to avoid “secondary victimization”.
The defense, led by Alves’ lawyers Cristóbal Martell and Arnau Xumetra, in turn appealed. the judge’s decision regarding the violation of the right to defense, The Barcelona Court decided to appeal, realizing that the law gave all defendants the right to “appoint an expert at their own expense”.
In this sense, the Barcelona Court ruled that the report of the forensic medicine doctor “enjoys the presumption of accuracy, objectivity and impartiality”, his views “do not have a privileged character and his conclusions may be challenged and openly contradicted by an expert”.
In the Court’s view, the presence of an expert in the discovery “reconcilable” with the status of the victimbecause it would enable the recognition of the complainant to be carried out “by the professionals involved, jointly, in an action unit”.
In the view of the room, a situation that would allow to take measures to “reduce collateral victimization resulting from repetition of the story” by the complainant, as well as to ensure that expert evidence is carried out “in optimal conditions, in an environment that encourages discovery, with the greatest possible privacy”.
The young woman is awaiting examination by the Psychology Unit of the Institute of Forensic Medicine and Forensic Sciences of Catalonia (IMELEC).now an exam that the psychologist designated by the defense can attend.
Parallel, As requested by the defense on 20 January after the accused was revealed, the investigating judge must now decide whether the footballer should be released on probation. The fourth version of what happened at the Sutton nightclub on the night of 30 December is at his request in the presence of the judge.
The magistrate’s decision can be appealed to the Barcelona Court. last February, he refused to be released on parole, arguing that the former Barça player was at risk of absconding and that the evidence accusing him of rape was solid.