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Andrew Tate can leave Romania but must remain in EU while awaiting trial, court rules

Posted on by Dsen .N

A court has ruled 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 gang to sexually exploit women.

A spokesman for the Bucharest tribunal hailed the decision by the Bucharest tribunal to allow Tate, 37, to leave the country as a “significant victory and a great step forward” in the case.

Tate, a former professional kickboxer and dual British-American citizen, was originally arrested in December 2022 near Bucharest, the capital of Romania, along with his brother Tristan and two Romanians.

Romanian prosecutors formally charged all four in June last year.

They denied these accusations.

Following 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 MADNESS CASE IS FALLING APART.”

Eugen Vidineac, one of Tate’s lawyers, said: “We accept and applaud the court’s decision today. I believe it reflects the exemplary conduct and assistance my clients have provided me.”

He added that the Tates “remain determined to clear their name and reputation.”

On April 26, the Bucharest court ruled that the case file against Tate met legal criteria and the trial could begin, but did not set a date for its start.

The ruling comes after the court case was argued for months at a preliminary stage, where defendants can challenge evidence presented by prosecutors and the case file.

After the Tate brothers were arrested, they were held for three months in police custody before being moved to house arrest. They were later confined to the Bucharest commune and nearby Ilfov county, and then to Romania.

Andrew Tate enters the Court of Appeal building in Bucharest, Romania (Andreea Alexandru/AP)

Mr Vidineac said the ability to travel within the 27-nation EU bloc would allow the Tates to “pursue their professional opportunities without restriction”.

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 various social media platforms for allegedly expressing misogynistic views and using hate speech.

In a separate case, Andrew Tate was served with a civil lawsuit at his home in Romania filed by four British women after the case was filed in the High Court in London, according to a statement released in May by McCue Jury & Partners, the law firm representing the four women.

All four people say Tate sexually and physically assaulted them and reported the matter to British authorities in 2014 and 2015.

After a four-year investigation, in 2019 the General Prosecutor’s Office decided to discontinue the criminal proceedings.

The alleged victims then turned to crowdfunding to bring civil proceedings against him.

In a separate, third case, the Tate brothers also appeared at the Bucharest Court of Appeal in March after British authorities issued arrest warrants for them over allegations of sexual assault in a case heard in the UK between 2012 and 2015.

The Court of Appeal granted the British request to extradite the Tateses to the UK, but only after legal proceedings in Romania had been concluded.