Former President Ricardo Martinelli was released to house arrest Wednesday from jail, where he had been held since his extradition from the United States on accusations of political espionage during his administration.

Clad in jeans and a blue shirt, and holding a small dog, Martinelli waved to reporters and talked with security agents outside the door of his home in Panama City in the morning.

Martinelli’s defense had requested that he be freed on the grounds that Panamanian law says preventive detention cannot exceed one year.

The country’s judicial branch said via Twitter that the court overseeing the case ordered “the cessation of the provisional detention of the ex-president of the Republic due to the one-year term being complete and imposes the measure of house arrest.” The ruling does not halt his trial.