8 January Convict Pictured With Police Baton Ordered to Start 14-Year Term
Brazil · Justice
Key Facts
- —What happened Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Jackson Uriel de Souza Vieira, 30, to start a 14-year prison term.
- —The order Moraes issued the warrant on 8 September 2026, after the conviction became final; Metrópoles reported it on 21 September 2026.
- —Where the baton fits Images from 8 January 2023 show him holding a police baton outside Congress, and they led to heavier charges.
- —The catch His defence told Metrópoles the warrant had not yet been served; he had been free under an ankle tag.
- —The wider tally A Supreme Court report of 29 April 2026 counted 850 convictions and 552 plea-style deals over the riots and wider coup plot.
The baton dates from the 2023 riots in Brasília, not from this month. Images of it helped turn a minor case into a coup conviction, and the sentence is now final.
An 8 January convict who was photographed with a police baton at Brazil’s Congress has been ordered to prison. Justice Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Federal Court, Brazil’s top court, issued the warrant on Tuesday 8 September 2026.
The man is Jackson Uriel de Souza Vieira, 30, from Ji-Paraná in the Amazon state of Rondônia. He was sentenced to 14 years over the riots in Brasília on 8 January 2023.
The order came to light on Monday 21 September 2026, when the news site Metrópoles reported it. The warrant is under seal and addressed to the Federal Police.
The baton dates from 2023
The baton is not a new incident. It appears in images from the day of the riots, and those images later raised the stakes of his case.
According to Metrópoles, a Federal Police forensic analysis turned up images of him outside Congress on 8 January 2023. In one of them, he is holding a police baton.
A police report cited by the site found signs that he at least walked across the roof canopy of Congress carrying it. The Curitiba newspaper Gazeta do Povo said the photo, which he had sent, surfaced on another suspect’s phone.
From a plea deal to a coup conviction
He was arrested on Monday 9 January 2023 at the protest camp outside Army headquarters in Brasília. Prosecutors first charged him only with incitement to crime and criminal association.
The case was paused while the two sides negotiated a non-prosecution agreement, a deal used for lesser offences. The images changed that.
The Office of the Prosecutor General withdrew the offer after the forensic findings, Metrópoles and IstoÉ reported. It charged him instead with attempting a coup and the violent abolition of democratic rule of law.
The other charges were armed criminal association, aggravated damage to property and damage to listed heritage.
The analysis also identified him as an administrator of two WhatsApp groups. In them, according to the Federal Police, messages organised seats on free buses to Brasília.
Investigators found no messages sent by him in those groups, Metrópoles reported. He was convicted on all five counts, according to Gazeta do Povo.
A majority of the full court backed Moraes’s proposed 14 years, starting in the closed regime, meaning an ordinary prison. Justices Kassio Nunes Marques, Luiz Fux and André Mendonça voted against, Gazeta do Povo reported.
Like other convicted rioters, he shares a joint R$30 million (about US$5.8 million) bill for collective moral damages. The conversion uses the Central Bank’s reference rate of 5.1575 to the US dollar on 18 September 2026.
Why he was still free
He remains at liberty, according to Metrópoles and IstoÉ; his defence says the warrant has not been served. He has been monitored by an electronic ankle tag, and the warrant followed the conviction becoming final.
The sentence begins “in view of the final judgment of this criminal case”, Moraes wrote in the order quoted by Metrópoles. He ordered the warrant sent to the Federal Police.
Gazeta do Povo said it could not reach his lawyer, Geneci Apolinário. Neither outlet reported a date for the arrest.
What happened on 8 January 2023
On Sunday 8 January 2023, thousands of Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters stormed Congress, the presidential palace and the Supreme Court. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had taken office as president a week earlier.
Many had spent weeks camped outside army bases, refusing to accept Lula’s narrow election win over Bolsonaro, the Guardian reported. Police in Brasília said 300 people had been arrested that day, the BBC reported.
How many have been convicted
A Supreme Court report published on 29 April 2026 counted 1,402 people held to account. The total covers the riots and the wider coup plot, according to Estadão.
Of those, 431 received prison terms and 419 lighter penalties such as community service. Another 552 cases ended in non-prosecution agreements.
The 431 include 29 members of the plot’s core groups, among them Bolsonaro himself. He was sentenced in September 2025 to 27 years and three months.
Congress later passed a law that would shorten sentences for the 8 January convicts. Moraes suspended its application on 9 May 2026 until the full court rules on it, BBC News Brasil reported.
For the 8 January convict from Rondônia, the next step is the arrest itself, carried out by the Federal Police.
More: Brazil coverage, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Jackson Uriel de Souza Vieira?
He is a 30-year-old resident of Ji-Paraná, in the Brazilian state of Rondônia, according to Metrópoles and IstoÉ. He was arrested on 9 January 2023 at the protest camp outside Army headquarters in Brasília. The Supreme Federal Court later sentenced him to 14 years over the riots of the previous day.
Was he caught with a police baton recently?
No. The baton appears in images from 8 January 2023, which show him holding it outside Congress, according to Metrópoles. A Federal Police forensic analysis found those images. They led prosecutors to drop a plea-deal offer and charge him with attempting a coup.
Why does Moraes decide on these cases?
Justice Alexandre de Moraes is the rapporteur of the 8 January cases at the Supreme Federal Court, Brazil’s highest court. He wrote the vote that set this 8 January convict’s sentence at 14 years, which the majority of the court followed. Once the conviction became final, he ordered the sentence to begin.
How many people have been punished over 8 January?
A Supreme Court report published on 29 April 2026 counted 1,402 people held to account over the riots and the wider coup plot. Of those, 850 were convicted in court, 431 of them to prison terms. Another 552 cases were settled through non-prosecution agreements, which involve alternative penalties such as community service and fines.
Sources: Metrópoles on the arrest order, Gazeta do Povo on the case history, IstoÉ on the charges, Estadão on the Supreme Court tally, BBC News Brasil on the sentencing law, The Guardian on 8 January 2023, BBC News on the riots
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