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R. Kelly returns to court Friday in sex abuse case as he seeks permission to travel

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22 MAR 19 10:03 ET

(CNN) — R. Kelly is due back in a Chicago court Friday morning in connection with sex abuse charges, during a week when his attorney has said the singer is seeking permission to travel for work.

The entertainer faces 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four alleged victims, including three who prosecutors say were underage girls. The Class 2 felony charges cover allegations from 1998 to 2010.

Kelly, 52, has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has consistently denied allegations of abusing women or being sexually involved with underage girls.

It’s not immediately clear what will be addressed in Friday’s status hearing. But his attorney, Steve Greenberg, told CNN this week the singer wants to be able to travel for work.

R. Kelly surrendered his passport under terms of the bail he was granted last month. Greenberg declined to say whether Kelly is seeking permission to travel outside the United States.

What the charges allege

The charges, filed last month, follow more than two decades of Kelly being associated with accusations of abuse, manipulation and inappropriate encounters with girls and young women. He has strongly denied the accusations and has not been convicted in any criminal case connected to them.

In the latest case, Kelly is accused of sexual acts with three children older than 13 but younger than 17. There is no age range listed for one of the alleged victims, but a prosecutor has said she was 24 at the time of the alleged conduct. The charges say Kelly used force or the threat of force against her.

The charges were filed in February, after attorney Michael Avenatti announced he had given the state’s attorney’s office a videotape that he said showed Kelly having sex with an underage girl.

CNN has seen the VHS tape, which is 42 minutes and 45 seconds, clear and explicit. It appears to show Kelly having sex with a girl who refers to her body parts as 14 years old.

In a hearing February 23, prosecutors revealed graphic details, including accusations that Kelly spit on two victims. And one of the alleged victims provided authorities with a shirt she wore during an alleged encounter with Kelly, which later tested positive for his DNA, prosecutors said.

Kelly was jailed February 22 in the current case before being released on bail three days later.

Greenberg, Kelly’s attorney, told reporters this month that prosecutors had yet to show him “one single piece of evidence,” including the videotape.

Greenberg also has said he believes the accusers are lying and Kelly would be vindicated.

Kelly’s attorney cites double jeopardy

What is on the video mirrors some of the alleged acts for which Kelly was arrested in a child pornography case in 2002, when he was 35.

In that 2002 case, there also was a video in which prosecutors said he appeared to be having sex with a girl.

Kelly was acquitted in 2008 of child pornography charges in that case.

Greenberg has said one of the current charges “appears to involve the same alleged victim from the earlier case, and double jeopardy should bar that case.”

But the charges in the earlier case were child pornography charges — different from the aggravated sexual abuse charges Kelly currently faces.

Kelly has been sued by multiple women accusing him of having sex with them when they were underage. Most cases, with the exception of the trial at which he was acquitted, have been settled out of court.

There has been a growing movement against him, including the #MuteRKelly campaign to stop his music from being played. His hits include “I Believe I Can Fly” and “Ignition.”

In January, the release of the docuseries, “Surviving R. Kelly,” on Lifetime television helped boost the public campaign against him.

In that series, women said they were kept in abusive sexual relationships.

Kelly this month in a nearly 80-minute interview told CBS News’ Gayle King he denied holding women against their will or having sex with anyone younger than 17.

“I have been assassinated,” Kelly said, asserting he was a victim of lies. “I have been buried alive, but I’m alive.”

Kelly also was jailed March 6 in a separate case involving what authorities said was failure to pay his ex-wife child support of $160,000. He was also released in that case after posting bail.

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