CHIHUAHUA, Mexico (AP) – Mexican pop star Gloria Trevi was acquitted of rape, kidnapping and corruption of minors charges late Tuesday and ordered released from prison.

In announcing his decision, Judge Javier Pineda ruled there wasn’t sufficient evidence to convict the 36-year-old fallen icon and two backup-singers, who had faced the same charges.

Pineda read his verdict in front of a courtroom cage holding the three suspects, who each could have received 25 years in prison.

Trevi did not speak to dozens of reporters in the courtroom immediately after the verdict. Prosecutors will now have five days to appeal the ruling.

Trevi, backup singers Maria Raquenel Portillo and Marlene Calderon, and their manager, Sergio Andrade, had been charged with kidnapping and sexually abused girls who joined their globe-trotting entourage.

They were arrested in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in January 2000. She fought extradition until agreeing in December 2002 to return to Mexico to stand trial. Andrade faces a separate trial.

Trevi, nicknamed “Mexico’s Madonna,” was one of the country’s biggest pop sensations in the 1990s. Her first three records, featuring songs of adolescent frustration, sold over 5 million copies. Even though her last hit came in 1996, Trevi continues to fascinate Mexico, where posters and calendars of her nude and seminude remain popular.

AP-ES-09-21-04 2131EDT