Man who broke watch on 8/1 is arrested by PF after order from Moraes

The Federal Police arrested this Friday (20), in Catalão, Goiás, the man convicted of breaking a historic clock during the coup acts of January 8, 2023. The arrest was ordered by Minister Alexandre de Moraes , of the STF (Supreme Federal Court).

Mechanic Antônio Cláudio Alves Ferreira had been released on Wednesday (18) by decision of judge Lourenço Migliorini Fonseca Ribeiro, of the Criminal Enforcement Court of Uberlândia (MG), who determined the progression to the semi-open regime, understanding that he already had the right to the change.

According to the Federal Police, the arrest was carried out by federal police officers in cooperation with military police officers from Goiás and with support from the Integrated Force to Combat Organized Crime of Minas Gerais.

During the investigations, the Federal Police said that officers also located and arrested a second person, a fugitive from justice, who had an outstanding arrest warrant and was related to the mechanic.

When ordering the arrest, Moraes stated that the judge did not have the authority to make this decision and that the convicted man had not served enough time in prison to be able to change regime. Ferreira was sentenced by the Supreme Court to 17 years in prison and was released after two years and four months in detention.

In the court decision that established the release, the judge said that Ferreira served the necessary fraction to receive the benefit, did not commit any serious offense and has "good prison conduct."

Moraes responded, in the ruling issued on Thursday night, saying that the judge "made a decision outside the scope of his jurisdiction" and that he did not have authorization from the STF for such conduct.

Furthermore, he stated that the mechanic did not serve enough time because he was convicted of crimes of violence and serious threats, which requires a higher percentage in a closed regime.

Ferreira served 16% of his sentence in a closed regime, but, according to Moraes, the correct thing would be for him to move to semi-open prison only after 25% of the total sentence time, given the seriousness of the crimes.

"The judge's conduct must, therefore, be duly investigated by the police authority within the scope of this Supreme Federal Court", determined the minister.

The General Inspectorate of the Court of Justice of Minas Gerais opened proceedings this Friday (20) to investigate the judge's decision.

"TJMG reaffirms its commitment to legality, the principles of the democratic rule of law and unrestricted respect for judicial orders issued by higher courts", says the note from the Minas Gerais Court of Justice regarding the opening of an internal investigation.

The defendant was released without an electronic ankle bracelet . According to the judge, the measure was necessary due to the lack of equipment available in Minas Gerais. Since there is no forecast for regularizing the situation, the judge stated, the prisoner should not be harmed by the State's delay.

The State Secretariat of Justice and Public Security of Minas, linked to the Romeu Zema (Novo) government, however, said that the information about the lack of equipment was not correct and stated that there are more than 4,000 active vacancies in the monitoring system.

The department stated that in cases where the person lives in a different district from the prison, such as Ferreira, there is the possibility of release without monitoring, only under house arrest.

"Therefore, there is a legal deadline of 60 days for him to provide an address in the district of Uberlândia and appear at the Regional Electronic Monitoring Center to have the ankle bracelet fitted. We inform that Antônio Cláudio Alves Ferreira already has an appointment scheduled for the next few days," it said in a statement.