A Bucharest court ruled Friday that influencer Andrew Tate can leave Romania but must remain within the European Union while he awaits trial on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
The Bucharest court’s decision to allow the 37-year-old to leave the country was welcomed by its spokesman, Mateea Petrescu, who called it a “significant victory and a major step forward” in the case. It is unclear whether prosecutors can or will appeal the court’s decision.
Andrew Tate, a former professional kickboxer and British and American citizen, was initially arrested in December 2022 near Bucharest along with his brother Tristan and two Romanian women. Romanian prosecutors formally charged the four in June 2023. All four have denied the allegations.
After Friday’s ruling, Tate wrote on the social network X: “I AM FREE. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 3 YEARS I CAN LEAVE ROMANIA. THE FALSE CASE IS FALLING.”
“We accept and applaud the court’s decision. I view it as a reflection of the exemplary behavior and cooperation of my clients,” said Eugen Vidineac, one of Andrew Tate’s attorneys, adding that the two brothers are “still committed to clearing their names and reputations.”
On April 26, the Bucharest court concluded that prosecutors’ case against Andrew Tate met the legal criteria and that a trial could begin, but did not set a date.
The decision came after the legal case was argued for months during pretrial stages, a process in which defendants can challenge evidence and prosecutors’ case.
After their arrest, the Tate brothers were held for three months by the police before being placed under house arrest. They were then forced to remain in Bucharest and the neighbouring county of Ilfov, and then in Romania in general.
Mr Vidineac said the ability to travel within the 27-nation European bloc would allow the Tate brothers to “pursue professional opportunities without restriction”.
Andrew Tate, who has 9.5 million followers on the social network X, has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him.
He has previously been banned from various social media platforms for allegedly expressing misogynistic views and hate speech.
In a separate case, Andrew Tate is at the center of a civil action brought by four British women after a complaint 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.
The four women claim that Andrew Tate sexually and physically assaulted them. They reported him to British authorities in 2014 and 2015.
After a four-year investigation, the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service decided in 2019 not to prosecute him. The alleged victims then turned to crowdfunding to bring a civil action against him.
In a third separate case, the Tate brothers also appeared in March before the Bucharest Court of Appeal after British authorities issued arrest warrants following allegations of sexual assault in a British case dating back to between 2012 and 2015.
The court accepted the request to extradite the Tate brothers to the UK, but only after the conclusion of the legal proceedings in Romania.