A former Calgary teacher sentenced to 10 years in an Indonesian prison on child sex charges has been released from a Jakarta jail after a court overturned his conviction on Friday.

Family and friends have stood by Neil Bantleman for more than a year after he was arrested, charged and then convicted of violating Indonesia's child protection law.

Bantleman and teaching assistant Ferdinant Tjiong were sentenced to 10 years in prison earlier this year accused of sexually abusing students who attended the Jakarta International School.

Bantleman and Tjiong were arrested in July last year followed allegations from parents that they sexually abused students who attended the school's kindergarten.

The former Webber Academy teacher maintained his innocence throughout the ordeal and his lawyer filed an appeal in May.

On Friday, the Jakarta High Court overturned his conviction and he walked out of Cipinang prison in eastern Jakarta to cheers from family and friends.

"I want to say thank you to you all for believing in us," said Bantleman, who repeatedly hugged and kissed his wife, Tracy. "We're happy that the truth has finally come out."

"The truth is finally revealed and justice has been done," said Hotman Paris Hutapea, an Indonesian lawyer representing Bantleman and Tjiong.

Hutapea says that the claims were motivated by money and the principal and several teachers from the school alleged the same.

Bantleman, 45, was acquitted of all charges and his brother, Guy, says the family will work to get his brother back to Canada as soon as possible.

“The next step is to understand the next steps we aren't completely sure on exactly how this will play out. We're not sure if the decision by the high court was so thorough that the prosecutors will be foolish to take this forward so we really need to just let the dust settle,” said Guy.

Prosecutors could still appeal the court’s latest decision so Bantleman will remain in Indonesia for now.

“At this point, we’ve got to figure out what’s going to happen. You know, we feel the prosecutor can probably still appeal this so that might add a bit of a delay to getting him out of the country, but ultimately we’ll get him out of the country and then back to Calgary,’ said Guy. “Thanks to all the supporters in Calgary and Toronto, across Canada, around the world who really rallied and really participated in support for Neil at every different government level and that’s meant a lot to Neil and our family.”

The family says their first stop will likely be in Calgary for a family reunion and that they expect Neil to be back in Burlington by mid-September.

(With files from The Canadian Press)