Mexico's top court freed a Frenchwoman convicted of kidnapping on Wednesday, Jan 23, ruling that her trial was tainted and ending a seven-year imprisonment that strained ties with France, Reuters reported.

Florence Cassez, 38, was sentenced to 60 years in prison after she was arrested in 2005 at a ranch near Mexico City with her former boyfriend, who led a kidnapping gang called the Zodiacs.

Supreme Court Judge Jorge Pardo ordered her release during a televised court session, which at one point looked to be going against Cassez.

Hours later, she was whisked from a Mexico City prison in a vehicle flanked by police trucks to the capital's international airport where she was put on an Air France plane back home.

The French government had sharply criticized Mexico for its treatment of Cassez and welcomed her release. Outside the Mexican prison, however, relatives of kidnap victims wept as Cassez was freed.