"We vacate Osipova’s Section 875(b) convictions and the restitution order, and remand for resentencing", the judges said, referring to the clause in the US Code on extortion.
The Judges said they affirm and reverse "in part" the charges against Osipova.
In June 2019, a US federal court sentenced Osipova to seven years in prison for international parental kidnapping and demanding child support from her former husband and US national Brian Mobley. The court also ordered Osipova to pay compensation in the amount of $18,000 to her husband and to do everything possible to return her children to the United States.
Osipova, a dual US and Russian citizen, left Wichita, Kansas, in 2014 allegedly escaping her abusive husband, together with one child from her first marriage and another from the marriage to Mobley and went to Russia. Osipova gave birth to a third child after arriving in Russia.
The US authorities arrested Osipova in 2017 shortly after she returned to the United States in order to change her child support arrangements.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has said it was outraged by the sentencing for a "ridiculous" charge of kidnapping. The Russian Consulate General in Houston has called the US court’s sentence unfair and inhumane.