Andrew Tate loses fresh appeal to be released from Romanian prison amid human trafficking case
Tate and his brother Tristan were arrested in December 2022 over allegations of sexual assault, exploitation, organised crime and human trafficking.
Tuesday 14 March 2023 15:55, UK
Police officers escort Andrew Tate to the Court of Appeal in Bucharest at the beginning of February. Pic: AP
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Police officers escort Andrew Tate to the Court of Appeal in Bucharest at the beginning of February. Pic: AP
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Andrew Tate’s appeal against a 30-day extension of his detention in Romania has been denied by a court, meaning the controversial social media influencer will remain in prison.
Tate, a British-US citizen, was appealing in Bucharest against a judge’s decision on 21 February to keep him in a Romanian prison for a further 30 days.
The rejection of his appeal means he will remain in detention until at least 29 March.
It is the fourth time Tate has had a request to be released from custody rejected since his arrest in December last year.
Before the latest court decision, a post appeared on Tate’s Twitter account that read: “If you want a life people will aspire for, you’ll need to be prepared to defend it.”
Tate’s spokesperson said afterwards: “We are disappointed in this outcome as we had high hopes to see Andrew reunited with his family. His legal team will be appealing this decision within the 48hr time frame.”
The 36-year-old former professional kickboxer and his brother Tristan are being investigated over allegations of sexual assault and exploitation.
They are also being detained on suspicion of organised crime and human trafficking.
The pair were taken into custody on 29 December last year and neither of them has been formally charged in the case.
Two Romanian women who were detained alongside the brothers have also not been formally charged.
The Tate brothers were initially detained for 24 hours, which was then extended to 30 days. A further 30 days were added in January, and again last month.
A January court document explaining a previous arrest extension noted “the possibility of them evading investigations cannot be ignored,” and said they could “leave Romania and settle in countries that do not allow extradition”.
Ramona Bolla, a spokesperson for Romania’s anti-organised crime agency DIICOT, has confirmed Tate’s latest request for bail was rejected at a hearing at the Bucharest Tribunal this morning.
It is not clear what bail conditions were proposed by Tate’s legal team.
In Romania, it is rare for defendants under preventative arrest for serious crimes to request posting bail.
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More common are requests to be placed under other judicial conditions such as house arrest or geographical restrictions.
Tate’s appeal has been rejected after the brothers lost an earlier appeal against the 21 February ruling.
Tristan’s fresh bail appeal hearing is tomorrow.
Romanian authorities said they had seized goods and money worth almost £3.25m from Tate’s villa, including luxury cars.
He has repeatedly claimed Romanian prosecutors have no evidence and alleged their case is a “political” conspiracy designed to silence him.
Video released by Romanian police shows a raid on a property carried out along side the arrest of social media influencer Andrew Tate. The 36-year-old British-American and his brother Tristan will be detained for 24 hours alongside two Romanian suspects.1:47
Play Video – Andrew Tate arrested in Romania
From December last year: Andrew Tate arrested in Romania
However, DIICOT said in a statement after the December arrests that it had identified six victims in the human trafficking case who were allegedly subjected to “acts of physical violence and mental coercion” and sexually exploited by members of the alleged crime group.
The agency said victims were lured with pretences of love and later intimidated, placed under surveillance and subjected to other control tactics while being coerced into engaging in pornographic acts for the financial gain of the crime group.
Tate has 5.3 million followers on Twitter and was previously banned from various prominent social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech.
The former Big Brother contestant is believed to have lived in Romania since 2017.
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