Social media was abuzz on Saturday night when an alleged journalist in Brazil, Paulo Albuquerque, reported that Dani Alves may have taken his own life in the prison where he is currently incarcerated.
However, the veracity of this information was difficult to ascertain, as it was unclear how Albuquerque could have obtained such information when Alves is in prison in Barcelona. Nonetheless, Dani Alves became the number one trending topic on X, formerly Twitter, in Spain for a moment.
In response, Ney Alves, the brother of the former Brazilian footballer, took to social media to send a reassuring message and criticize those who spread false information online.
“How cruel human beings are. He was already convicted for the words of a woman who went into a men’s room to do what only he and she know how to do. He has already been condemned, isn’t that enough?” the footballer’s brother wrote, accompanied by a photograph of the two of them together.
Alves was convicted by a court in Spain of raping a woman in a Barcelona nightclub.
The singer, also a professional, posted additional messages about his brother’s prison situation, reassuring fans who had been concerned by the news.
“It’s not enough. Now the crazy thing is they want to see him dead. How can you be so cruel?” he continued. “My father is over 70 years old. My mother is over 60. They don’t have family, do they? These pages keep spreading these things,” he said.
Dani Alves has been sentenced to between four and six months in prison, along with five years of supervised liberty and a nine-year, six-month restraining order prohibiting contact with the victim.
Additionally, he has been ordered to pay 150,000 euros in compensation and cover trial costs. Alves has already served one year, one month, and 18 days in prison.