Bucharest, Romania — A court in Romania’s capital ruled Friday that social media influencer Andrew Tate can leave Romania but must remain within the European Union while he awaits trial on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang for sexual exploitation. to women.
The decision of the Bucharest Court to allow tateThe departure of the president, 37, 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-American citizen, was initially arrested in December 2022 near Bucharest along with his brother Tristan and two Romanian women. romanian prosecutors formally charged all four in June last year and all four have denied the allegations.
After Friday’s decision, Tate wrote on social media platform X: “I AM FREE. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 3 YEARS I CAN LEAVE ROMANIA. THE FALSE CASE IS BEING DISASSEMBLED.”
“We welcome and applaud today’s court decision as 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 file against Tate met the legal criteria and that a trial could begin but did not set a date for its start. That ruling came after the legal case had been argued for months in the pretrial court stages, a process in which defendants can challenge prosecutors’ evidence and the case file.
After the Tate brothers’ arrest, they were held for three months in police custody before being transferred to house arrest. They were later restricted to the municipality of Bucharest and the nearby 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 social media platform X, has repeatedly claimed 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 received a civil suit filed by four British women at his home in Romania after the High Court in London issued a complaint, according to a statement issued in May by McCue Jury. & Partners, the law firm representing the four women.
The four allege that 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 them.
In a third separate case, the Tate brothers also appeared before the Bucharest Court of Appeal in March after British authorities issued arrest warrants over allegations of sexual assault in a UK case dating back to 2012-2015.
The appeals court granted the British request to extradite the Tates to the United Kingdom, but only after court proceedings in Romania had concluded.
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McGrath reported from Brasov, Romania.
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