In a rare acquittal, a Russian human rights activist is found not guilty of producing child pornography

In a rare acquittal, a court in Petrozavodsk has found historian Yuri Dmitriev not guilty of producing child pornography. The Karelian head of the human rights group “Memorial” was, however, sentenced to 2.5 years probation for illegal weapons possession. Factoring in the time he’s already served during his trial and criminal investigation, Dmitriev will have to check in regularly with the police for another year and three months. Prosecutors wanted him locked up for nine years.

Investigators found nine nude photographs of Dmitriev’s adopted daughter on his computer. He says he used to images to track the girl’s health and to report to social services. There were hundreds of these photos on Dmitriev’s computer, but police built their case around just nine.

The human rights activist’s supporters say he’s being persecuted for his years of work to honor the local victims of Soviet political repressions. In 1997, he led an expedition that unearthed a mass grave containing the bodies of more than 9,000 people killed during the so-called Great Terror. He’s located several other mass graves, as well.