Former Portuguese PM released from house arrest

Former Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates was released from house arrest on Friday but still not allowed to leave the country, the Public Prosecutor's Office said.

The house arrest for Socrates has been replaced by prohibition of leaving the country without prior authorization, the Public Porsecutor's Office said in a statement, adding that he is still not allowed to contact other defendants in the case.

The statement also said that businessman Carlos Santos Silva, Socrates's longtime friend, was also freed from house arrest.

Socrates, Portugal's former Socialist prime minister, was released from prison on Sept. 4 but remained under house arrest.

He was allowed to cast his vote in the Oct. 4 general election which saw his Socialist Party defeated by coalition of Social Democratic Party led by caretaking Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho and CDS-PP led by Paulo Portas.

The coalition won the most votes in the election but lost an outright majority in the 230-seat parliament.

Socrates was detained last November amid allegations of corruption, money laundering and tax fraud. He governed Portugal from 2005 to 2011 and resigned amid a debt crisis which forced him to ask for an international bailout, which the country ended last year following three years of painful austerity.

There has been no formal indictment against Socrates so far and he has claimed he is innocent since he was arrested and refused the offer to remain under house arrest with electronic surveillance.

Source: XINHUA