The former prime minister's defence team had alleged that an order last month by Carlos Alexandre, the judge overseeing the investigation, that Sócrates remain in detention after he declined to be moved to house arrest but with an electronic tag, was null and void because no proper legal basis was laid out for the decision.


In its ruling, the appeals court recognised that while the order in question was not given a full basis in law, this did not render it null and void, but merely irregular, and that this irregularity could be removed at any moment. Since the judge had in another associated order provided the legal basis for his decision, the act was valid, it ruled.


Sócrates's defence had also question the right of the central criminal court to rule that he remain in prison, arguing that only the Supreme Court could do so, since the detainee was prime minister at the time of the alleged crimes. But according to the appeals court, the fact that he is no longer in office means that the criminal court was within its rights to order his detention.


No charges have yet been laid in the case.