BUCHAREST, Romania – A court in Romania’s capital ruled on Friday that social media influencer Andrew Tate can leave Romania but must remain in the European Union while he awaits trial on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal group to exploit sexually women.
The decision of the Bucharest Court to allow Tate, 37, leaving the country was hailed by his spokeswoman, Mateea Petrescu, as a “significant victory and a big step forward” in the case. It is unclear whether prosecutors can or will appeal the court’s decision.
Tate, a former professional kickboxer and dual British US citizen, was initially arrested in December 2022 near Bucharest along with his brother Tristan and two Romanian women. Romanian prosecutors formally indicted all four in June last year and all four denied the allegations.
Following Friday’s ruling, Tate wrote on social media platform X: “I’M FREE. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 3 YEARS I CAN LEAVE ROMANIA. THE SHAM CASE IS DISAPPEARING.”
“We embrace and applaud the court’s decision today, I consider it a reflection of the exemplary behavior and assistance of my clients,” said Eugen Vidineac, one of Tate’s lawyers, adding that the Tates “are still determined to clear their name and reputation.”
On April 26, the Bucharest Court ruled that the prosecutors’ case against Tate met the legal and that a trial could begin but did not set a start date. This decision came after the legal case had been discussed for months in the chamber’s preliminary stages, a process in which defendants can challenge prosecutors’ evidence and records.
Following the Tate brothers’ arrest, they were held in police detention for three months before being transferred to house arrest. Later, they were restricted to the municipality of Bucharest and the neighboring county of Ilfov, and then to Romania.
Vidineac said the ability to travel within the 27-nation EU bloc will allow the Tates to “pursue professional opportunities without restrictions”.
Andrew Tate, who has amassed 9.5 million followers on the social media platform X, has repeatedly stated that prosecutors have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him. He was previously banned from several social media platforms for allegedly expressing misogynistic views and using hate speech.
In a separate case, Andrew Tate was summoned to his home in Romania in a civil action brought by four British women after a writ was issued by the High Court in London, according to a statement released in May by McCue Jury. & Partners, the law firm representing the four women.
The four allege Tate sexually and physically assaulted them and reported him to British authorities in 2014 and 2015. After a four-year investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service decided in 2019 not to prosecute him. The alleged victims then turned to crowdfunding to file a civil case against him.
In a third separate case, the Tate brothers also appeared in the Bucharest Court of Appeal in March, after British authorities issued arrest warrants about allegations of sexual assault in a UK case dating back to 2012-2015.
The court of appeal granted the British request to extradite the Tates to the United Kingdom, but only after the conclusion of the judicial process in Romania.
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McGrath reported from Brasov, Romania.
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