A Russian kindergarten teacher jailed for reposting a three-second video online has been freed after the case against her was dismissed.
Evgeniya Chudnovets was sentenced to six months in a penal colony after sharing a clip which showed a naked child being mocked by staff members at a children’s camp.
Chudnovets told the court that she had shared the clip on Russian social network Vkontakte in order to draw police attention to the case, but was instead found guilty of distributing pornographic images of children in November 2016.
The Kurgan Regional Court overturned the ruling on Monday, citing a lack of evidence, the Znak.com news site reported.
Chudnovets' case has drawn the attention of many within Russia, with Children’s Ombudsman Anna Kuznetsova among those criticizing the teacher's prosecution. Chudnovets' original sentence was reduced from six months to five after an appeal in December 2016, but judges refused requests to commute her punishment to community service.
Law enforcement agencies investigating the video ultimately jailed two members of staff at the camp for failing to protect children in its care. The member of staff pictured in the video was sentenced to three years imprisonment, while the camp’s manager was jailed for six years.
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