BUCHAREST, April 6 (Reuters) - A Romanian court on Monday lifted all preventative judicial control measures against internet personality Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan pending a criminal investigation on accusations of human trafficking, among others.
In December 2022, Romanian anti-organized crime prosecutors detained the brothers for a criminal investigation, initially holding them in police custody for months as a preventative pre-trial measure. The Bucharest court of appeals relaxed the measure to house arrest in 2023 and later to regular check-ins with the police.
The brothers, both former kickboxers with dual U.S. and British citizenship, have denied all wrongdoing.
On Monday, the Bucharest court ruled to remove the obligation of regular check-ins. The ruling is final and cannot not be appealed, the court said.
"This decision confirms what we have argued consistently from the beginning, the case was built on questionable evidence," the Tates' lead defence lawyer Eugene Vidineac said in a statement.
The Bucharest court of appeals ruled against sending the Tates to trial in 2024 and sent the case back to prosecutors after removing several pieces of evidence that were "deemed inadmissible", including initial testimonies from their alleged victims from the file.
Prosecutors are still investigating the first case, but in 2024 they began a second criminal investigation against the Tates and four other suspects on suspicion of forming an organised criminal group, human trafficking, trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering.
The brothers had been required to regularly check in with the authorities.
Anti-organized crime prosecutors declined to comment as they cannot publicly discuss court rulings.
"Today's ruling restores a fundamental principle: that liberty cannot be restricted without solid legal grounds. After nearly four years, the courts have begun to correct what should never have happened in the first place," Vidineac added.
The Tate brothers are the highest-profile suspects facing investigation for human trafficking in Romania. They also have a British arrest warrant and will be extradited after Romanian trial proceedings finish, a Romanian court ruled.
A self-described misogynist, Andrew Tate has gained millions of online fans by promoting an ultra-masculine lifestyle that critics say denigrates women.
(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
