Moraes denies releasing man who vandalized historic clock on 8/1
Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), denied the new request for release of the man convicted of vandalizing a historical clock inside the Palácio do Planalto during the events of January 8, 2023. Antônio Cláudio Alves Ferreira appears in the images of the internal security circuit breaking the work brought to Brazil by Dom João VI in 1808.
Ferreira has been imprisoned since January 24, 2023 in a prison in Uberlândia (MG), where he was awaiting the progress of the process in which he was sentenced to 17 years in detention decided by the STF in July.
Days later, his defense filed a request for his release, which was also denied by Moraes. In the new decision this Tuesday (1st), the minister maintained Ferreira’s preventive detention, but without revealing the full content of the decision, as the case is being carried out under judicial secrecy.
Ferreira’s lawyers could not be reached by the report to comment on Moraes’ new decision.
In the vote in which he condemned Ferreira, the minister wrote that it was proven by testimonies and witnesses called by the Public Prosecutor’s Office that he was the author of the act of vandalism against the historical piece, as well as an armchair and a window pane.
Moraes also said that other elements prove the man’s participation in the crime, such as videos and photos “taken by the defendant himself”.
“As a participant and frequenter of QGEx and invader of public buildings in Praça dos Três Poderes, using violence or serious threat, he attempted to abolish the Democratic Rule of Law, aiming to prevent or restrict the exercise of constitutional powers through depredation and occupation of the headquarters buildings of the Three Powers of the Republic”, he wrote.
The criminal action report points out that Antônio Cláudio Alves Ferreira “confessed that he was the one who appears in the images and videos published on national television”. One of the images captured by Planalto’s internal security circuit shows him throwing the watch to the ground and then trying to damage the camera with a fire extinguisher.
“The accused confessed that he damaged a glass to enter the Palácio do Planalto and, due to the reaction of the security agencies, he decided to damage the historic clock and tear up an armchair, which were inside the building and, after, threw a fire extinguisher on the cameras”, portrays the piece.
After causing the damage, says the interrogation report, Ferreira returned home to the city of Catalão (GO) and sought shelter at a friend’s house in Uberlândia (MG) after becoming aware of the recordings.
Ferreira was also ordered to participate in compensation for collective moral damages of R$30 million.
The watch brought by Dom João VI to Brazil in 1808 was given as a gift by the French king Louis XIV. The rare piece was taken for restoration in Switzerland earlier this year, and is made from tortoise shell and a type of bronze that is no longer manufactured.
The author of the work, watchmaker Balthazar Martinot, manufactured a second similar piece that is on display at the Palace of Versailles, in France, but is half the size of the clock vandalized at the Palácio do Planalto.
