Andrew Tate, an “influencer” who was banned from Twitter because of racist, homophobic, and misogynist comments and welcomed back onto the platform by new owner Elon Musk, has won an appeal to a Romanian court to be released from house arrest.
Tate, his brother Tristan, and two other defendants are awaiting trial on charges of rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, as CrimeOnline previously reported. All four have been released from house arrest.
Tate cheered his release Friday and proclaimed his innocence with a statement, delivered outside his palatial home in Bucharest, complaining that he has “not seen a single victim in the news” while his friends have frequently spoken up in his favor, ABC News reported.
Victims of trafficking and sexual assault rarely appear in the news, particularly when the charges related to gang activity.
Romanian prosecutors say they have seven victims who say they were lured to Romania with false pretenses of love and then routed into sex trafficking. They say they were controlled by “intimidation, constant surveillance” and claims they were in debt, prosecutors said.
Additionally, several women in the United Kingdom are suing Tate in civil court, saying they were victims of sexual violence.
Under the conditions of his release, Tate is barred from leaving Romania and cannot be “in close proximity with any of the other defendants, any of the witnesses or any of the alleged victims and their immediate family,” according to his spokesperson, Mateea Petrescu.
The defendants can be returned to house arrest or incarcerated if they violate the terms of the release agreement.
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[Featured image: Andrew Tate, left, and his brother Tristan stand outside a police detention facility in Bucharest, Romania, after their release from prison on Friday March 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)]
Post source: Crime Online
