The case reached the Lisbon appeal court on 2 February.
According to the presiding judge, Vaz das Neves, the two judges who examined the appeal considered that the strong evidence of the crimes of which Sócrates is suspected remains in place, and that there is a danger of disruption of the collection and preservation of evidence.
As for the danger of the suspect fleeing, as alleged by Carlos Alexandre, the examining magistrate overseeing the investigation and who ordered Sócrates’s arrest, the appeal court judges took the view that this in itself was not sufficiently strong to determine the application of the severest restriction.
On Monday, Portugal’s Supreme Court had rejected a habeus corpus plea lodged by Sócrates’ lawyers on technical grounds.
Sócrates was head of a Socialist administration for six years to 2011.