Andrew Tate to remain under house arrest after rape and human trafficking charges
Andrew Tate will continue to be held under house arrest in Romania after he was charged with rape, human trafficking, and forming a criminal gang to exploit women, a court has ruled.
He is facing the raft of charges alongside his brother, Tristan Tate, while two Romanian women have also been charged in the case.
All four have denied the allegations against them.
A tribunal in Romania's capital, Bucharest, said on Friday that Tate's house detention will be extended for a further 30 days.
Tate, who has amassed nearly seven million Twitter followers and is known for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech online, was initially arrested in December.
All four defendants will remain under house arrest for 30 days, the court ruled, but the decision can be appealed within 48 hours.
Romania's anti-organised crime agency, DIICOT, requested that judges extend the house arrest measure when it filed its investigation.
Under Romanian law, judges have 60 days to decide whether the case is sent to trial, but the process often takes longer.
The four defendants have been accused of forming a criminal group in 2021 "in order to commit the crime of human trafficking" in Romania, the United States and UK.
DIICOT said the case involves seven female victims who were lured with false pretenses of love and transported to Romania, where the gang sexually exploited and subjected them to physical violence.
The women were allegedly controlled by "intimidation, constant surveillance" and claims they were in debt, prosecutors said.
The Tate brothers, who are dual British-US citizens, won an appeal in March to be moved to house arrest after spending three months in police detention.
Andrew Tate has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy designed to silence his views.
In a video posted on Thursday to his Twitter account, he labelled the charges against him as a "level 10 matrix attack", adding: "They're trying to destroy me without evidence."
Tate was previously banned from several prominent social media platforms for expressing hate speech and misogynistic comments, including that women should bear responsibility for getting sexually assaulted.
Several women in the UK also are pursuing civil claims to obtain damages from Andrew Tate, alleging they were victims of sexual violence.
During their investigations, Romanian prosecutors have ordered the confiscation of the Tate brothers' assets, including 15 luxury cars, watches and around $3 million (£2.4 million) in cryptocurrency.
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