Former Argentine president ordered freed from house arrest

Associated Press WriterBUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- An Argentine high court on Tuesday ordered former president Carlos Menem freed from house arrest nearly six months after he was detained on charges of heading up an illicit arms smuggling ring.

The decision to release the flamboyant, two-term president was confirmed by defense lawyer Oscar Salvi. The move was seen as a blow to efforts to prosecute Menem on allegations of illegal arms shipments in defiance of international embargoes.

"Menem has been notified," said Salvi. He said the 71-year-old statesmen and Peronist political boss would be formally released after a court appearance Tuesday evening.

Dozens of Menem's friends and loyalists celebrated outside the suburban Buenos Aires villa where the former president had been held since June 7. The arrest marked the first time Menem had been touched personally by corruption scandals during his 1989-1999 presidency.

Peronist Party supporters lit fireworks, chanted and burst into song as the news spread outside the Spanish-style villa.

Freeing Menem allows him to fight to retain his grip on the leadership of Argentina's biggest opposition party at a time when the tattered ruling coalition is struggling with a deep economic crisis. Menem has said he still wants to run again for president in 2003.

But Menem remains under the shadow of the federal courts as Magistrate Jorge Urso continues with his investigation of the former president and several of his top aides.

Argentine investigators still are studying how some 6,500 tons of weapons officially listed as being bound for Panama and Venezuela ended up in Croatia and Ecuador. The shipments of cannons and gunpowder, valued at more than $100 million, reached those countries in violation of an international arms embargoes.

Menem insists the arms sales were legal and the executive decrees he signed approving them do not provide grounds for a trial.

But Argentine investigators say they are probing whether he or anyone from his inner circle profited from the sale, and that the investigation continues.

President Fernando de la Rua, asked about moves to let Menem go, insisted his government had not played a role. "We haven't had anything to do with a ruling. There are no influences or political interference with the judiciary," he said.

Menem and several of his top aides still face other charges related to the investigation, including accusations of money laundering said to be linked to Swiss bank accounts in Menem's names. But none of those charges merit Menem remaining under house arrest, Diarios y Noticias quoted a federal tribunal decision as saying.

Cecilia Bolocco, Menem's wife and a former Miss Universe, told a gathered throng of supporters hours before the reported decision that she was looking forward to resuming a normal life with Menem after his house arrest.

"We're very happy. We knew this would one day happen," she said.