Russian authorities have released a kindergarten teacher who was imprisoned for reposting a child-abuse video in what she said was an innocent effort to raise awareness.
Yevgenia Chudnovets was released from a prison in the Sverdlovsk region in the Urals on March 6, hours after a court overturned a conviction and five-month prison sentence against her.
The ruling by the top court in the Kurgan Oblast came after Russia’s Supreme Court ordered a review of the case on February 28.
Chudnovets, 33, posted the graphic video on the Russian social network VKontakte in August and was convicted in November, despite her explanation that she was trying draw attention to the incident it depicted.
The video purportedly shows staff at a summer camp abusing a naked child.
The reposting of the video helped police catch a man and woman who were convicted and sentenced to prison terms of three and six years, respectively.
After a public outcry over the imprisonment of Chudnovets, Russian Deputy Prosecutor-General Leonid Korzhinek asked the Supreme Court to overturn the verdict and drop the charge against Chudnovets.
With reporting by medusa.io, kommersant.ru, and znak.com