Singer R. Kelly pleads not guilty to sexual abuse of three minors

US singer R. Kelly pleaded not guilty to ten sexual abuse charges against three minors on Monday and was then released from jail after posting a $100,000 bond.

R. Kelly was released from Chicago prison Monday afternoon, did not give any statement to the multitude of journalists waiting for him and jumped into a black vehicle.

Earlier, the 52-year-old artist had briefly appeared at a hearing in a Chicago court, wearing the orange suit characteristic of prisoners and pleaded not guilty before Judge LeRoy Martin, who is handling the case.

The district attorney in charge, Kimberly Foxx, has indicated that the ten criminal charges the singer is facing are linked to four victims, three of whom were, at the time of the events, less than 17 years old.

If convicted, R. Kelly could be sentenced to three to seven years in prison for each of the accusations.

The singer, who surrendered to the authorities on Feb. 22 after the charges against him were announced and who spent the weekend in prison, has at all times denied having committed any crime.

Attorney Michael Avenatti said he handed over a videotape to the Prosecutor’s Office in which Kelly allegedly had sex with one of the victims, a 14-year-old girl.

Prosecutor Foxx has publicly asked Kelly’s alleged victims to testify to facilitate the investigations.

Kelly, winner of three Grammy awards, has consistently denied the numerous allegations of sexual abuse and pedophilia that he has been accused of over the past several years.

In the past few weeks, his case gained notoriety due to the broadcast of a television documentary series that has led the authorities to take a fresh interest in these crimes.

“Surviving R. Kelly” is the title of the six-episode documentary that the Lifetime channel aired in January about the R & B musician who rose to fame in the 1990s.

Judge Pace, who appears in the documentary and claims to have been sexually abused by the artist when she was a teenager, attended the court hearing on Monday.

When he was 27 years old, the artist illegally married the singer Aaliyah, who was then only 15 years old.

In 2002, a video surfaced in which he allegedly appeared to be having sex with a minor, but in 2008 he was acquitted in the trial in this case, where he was charged with child pornography.