Romania: Andrew Tate's detention replaced with house arrest

BUCHAREST, Romania -

Andrew Tate, the divisive internet personality who has spent months in a Romanian jail on suspicion of organized crime and human trafficking, has won an appeal to replace his detention with house arrest, an official said Friday.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Tate's appeal, which challenged a judge's decision last week to extend his arrest a fourth time for 30 days, said Ramona Bolla, a spokesperson for Romania's anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT.

Tate, 36, a British-U.S. citizen who has 5.5 million Twitter followers, was initially detained in late December in Romania's capital Bucharest, along with his brother Tristan and two Romanian women.

All four won an appeal Friday, and will remain under house arrest until Apr. 29, Bolla said. None of the four has yet been formally indicted. The court ruled in favour of their immediate release. Prosecutors cannot challenge the appeal court's decision, which was final, Bolla added.

As the brothers left the detention facility late Friday in Bucharest, Tristan Tate told a scrum of reporters that "the judges today made the right decision."

"I respect what they've done for me and they will be vindicated in their decision, because I'm an innocent man and I can't wait to prove it," he said.

Some Tate supporters outside the facility chanted "Top-G, Top-G," using a popular moniker many of Andrew Tate's fans refer to him as.

Later, standing outside what is believed to be the Tate brothers' home near the capital, Andrew Tate said he wanted to thank the judges "who heard us today, because they were very attentive and they listened to us, and they let us free."

"I have no resentment in my heart for the country of Romania or for anybody else," he said. "I just believe in the truth ... I truly believe that justice will be served in the end. There is zero percent chance of me being convicted for something I've not done."

Tate, a professional kickboxer who has resided in Romania since 2017, was previously banned from various social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech. He has repeatedly claimed Romanian prosecutors have no evidence and alleged their case is a "political" conspiracy designed to silence him.

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 pretenses 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.

In January, Romanian authorities descended on a compound near Bucharest linked with the Tate brothers and towed away a fleet of luxury cars that included a Rolls-Royce, a Ferrari and a Porsche. They reported seizing assets worth an estimated US$3.9 million.

Prosecutors have said that if they can prove the cars' owners gained money through illicit activities such as human trafficking, the assets would be used to cover the expenses of the investigation and to compensate victims. Tate unsuccessfully appealed the asset seizure.

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Stephen McGrath reported from Sighisoara, Romania.