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Romanian court upholds arrest of influencer Andrew Tate

Published:Tuesday | January 10, 2023 | 3:30 PM
Andrew Tate, center, and his brother Tristan, leave after appearing at the Court of Appeal, in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, January 10, 2023. The divisive social media personality Andrew Tate arrived at a court in Romania in handcuffs on Tuesday morning to appeal a judge's earlier decision to extend his arrest period from 24 hours to 30 days on charges of being part of an organised crime group, human trafficking and rape. (AP Photo/Alexandru Dobre)

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A court in Romania's capital Bucharest has upheld the 30-day arrest of divisive social media personality and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate on charges of organised crime, human trafficking and rape, an official said late Tuesday.

Ramona Bolla, a spokesperson for Romanian anti-organised crime agency DIICOT, said the court rejected an appeal by Tate against a judge's earlier decision to extend his arrest from 24 hours to 30 days.

Tate, 36, a British-US citizen who has 4.5 million followers on Twitter, was initially detained on December 29 for 24 hours along with his brother Tristan, who was charged in the same case. Two Romanian women were also taken into custody.

The court late Tuesday rejected all four appeals against a judge's December 30 decision to grant prosecutors' request to extend the arrest period. A document explaining the judge's reasoning said “the possibility of them evading investigations cannot be ignored,” and that they could “leave Romania and settle in countries that do not allow extradition.”

Tate and the other three defendants arrived at Bucharest's Court of Appeal in handcuffs Tuesday and were taken away in the afternoon. Eugen Vidineac, a Romanian defence lawyer representing Tate, told journalists after a morning hearing that “all four of the accused have made statements” and that “the lawyers' pleas were listened to entirely.”

Tate, a former professional kickboxer, is reported to have lived in Romania since 2017, previously was banned from various prominent social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech. The week of his arrest, he traded insults on Twitter with teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg.

DIICOT said it had identified six victims in the trafficking case who were subjected to “acts of physical violence and mental coercion” and were sexually exploited by the members of the alleged crime group.

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