A Bucharest court on Tuesday rejected the request for the release of British influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan, arrested in late December in Romania in a pimping case. “They remain in detention,” Ramona Bolla, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office responsible for combating organized crime (DIICOT), told AFP.
The two former kickboxers, aged 36 and 34 respectively, had pleaded their case earlier in court, during a closed-door hearing lasting several hours. Arrived in a police van in the early morning, they appeared handcuffed, dressed all in black, AFP journalists noted.
At the exit, their lawyer Eugen Vidineac wanted to be “confident” but in the evening, the court ruled “unfounded” the appeals filed. Accused by the prosecution of “constitution of an organized criminal group, human trafficking and rape”, the Tate brothers had appealed against their pre-trial detention, ordered on December 30 for a period of 30 days. The judges had invoked a “risk of absconding” and a “danger to public order in view of the gravity of the crimes” charged.
“Bringing out the truth”
Six potential victims have been identified at this stage. Duped by the two men who feigned feelings for them, they would have been forced by violence into prostitution and the production of pornographic films, and for some sequestered. For Vidineac, “there is not a single piece of evidence to suggest that a crime of rape has been committed”. He also rejects the other charges and has promised to “bring out the truth”, according to comments recently made in local media.
The prosecution, which has been investigating for many months, had searched several properties of the Tate brothers at the end of December. Two of their relatives, of Romanian nationality, were also arrested and remain behind bars.
Andrew Tate, who has a US passport, appeared on the Big Brother TV show in 2016. He was eliminated from the competition after a video emerged showing him punching a woman. He then turned to social networks where he had promoted masculinist theses, believing in particular that women victims of sexual abuse should be held responsible.