VICTOR IS FREE!!!!

He was released from incarceration this morning.

COMING SOON to MUSCULARDEVELOPMENT.COM: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH VICTOR MARTINEZ BY RON HARRIS!

We are scheduling Victor to be special guest on Pro Bodybuilding Worldwide with Dan Solomon on Monday!!

Stay tuned to MD for more news about Victor Martinez throughout the weekend!

Victor with Rob Youells just after being released:

Victor with Jon Delarosa:

His incarceration at the Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny, NJ came to an end after over seven months sitting in limbo awaiting his fate in front of a U.S. Immigration judge.

Martinez's nightmare began, ironically enough, immediately after one of his greatest triumphs. After a season where he had been disappointed to take third place at the Arnold Classic and then fourth at both the Mr. Olympia and the Sheru Classic, Victor traveled to Madrid, Spain and became the first-ever Arnold Classic Europe Champion on October 8, 2011.

His celebration was to be quite short-lived. Upon his return home, Victor was detained at JFK International Airport and taken into custody. His green card as a resident legal alien had expired some time before, and had been denied renewal. Martinez knew it was only a matter of time before his case came up for review and he would be taken to a correctional facility, but of course he could never have known it would happen so closely on the heels of one of his career highlights as an IFBB Pro.

"I should have known," he told me shortly after arriving at Hudson County. "My life is a roller coaster - something good happens, then something bad, over and over again."

With access to neither weights or quality food behind bars, Victor has watched his mighty physique scale down to more average proportions. His own estimate is that he's dropped about 60 pounds of muscle in the seven months in lockup.

COMMENT ON VICTOR MARTINEZ

Hear the full Victor Martinez story on PBW Monday!

Victor's lawyer George Crimarco expected the outcome of the trial.

And here is a special note from Steve Blechman, publisher of Muscular Development who was at today's hearing:

I want to thank Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jim Lorimer for sending a letter to immigration authorities on behalf of Victor Martinez while Victor was in detention.

Arnold and Jim thought that was the least that they can do to help Victor with his release. You can always count on Arnold and Jim to give back to bodybuilding and helping our own. Thanks again Arnold and Jim!

Sincerely,

Steve Blechman
Publisher/ Editor-in-Chief Muscular Development

MD publisher Steve Blechman and MHP's Gerard Dente were on hand for this morning's trial.