Russian school principle to be retried on Microsoft piracy

The saga of the Russian headteacher accused of pirating Microsoft software has taken a new turn.

"A Russian court on Tuesday ordered a retrial of a school principal accused of installing pirated Microsoft software in school computers, court officials said. The case has been widely seen as a misguided attempt to crack down on software bootlegging.

The Perm regional court overturned a February ruling of a lower court to end the prosecution of Alexander Ponosov, said court spokesman Anatoly Sobolev. The lower court had said the case was insignificant."

The prosecution have insisted on pursuing the case despite it being thrown out as trivial the headteacher himself also wants a formal acquittal.