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Andrew Tate, the controversial social media personality charged with rape and human trafficking in Romania, was released from house arrest on Friday after more than seven months in detention.
Tate and his brother Tristan Tate, as well as two Romanian co-defendants also accused of running a trafficking ring, are still required to remain in the country and report regularly to a police station, according to a judicial ruling. They deny the charges.
According to the decision, the accused are not allowed to leave the area of Bucharest and the surrounding Ilfov County without prior consent from a judge. They are also banned from close proximity to other defendants, witnesses or victims and their immediate families.
“This positive outcome gives us confidence that more favorable developments are on the horizon and the truth is beginning to prevail,” Tate’s legal team said in a statement.
Tate, 36, and his 35-year-old brother were arrested in December and were held in preventive detention as the investigation continued over concerns they were a flight risk. They were moved to house arrest in March.
Romanian prosecutors indicted them and two of their Romanian associates in June, recommending the case for trial. They accuse the Tate brothers of luring women to Romania with the pretense of wanting to be in long-term relationships and then coercing them into producing online pornography. A self-styled misogynist, Tate has built a cultish following online and has more than 7.5 million Twitter followers.
The case against him was triggered last year when the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest tipped off Romanian police that a 21-year-old American citizen was being held against her will in a property belonging to the Tates. Romanian prosecutors have seized millions of dollars in assets belonging to the Tates, including 15 pieces of real estate, 15 luxury cars, 14 watches, cryptocurrency and shares.
“After an inditement [sic] based on nothing. The file was passed to a Judge who has ruled it weak and circumstantial,” Tate, a convert to Islam, tweeted following the announcement. “I have been released from house arrest but must remain within Romania. Now. To the Mosque. Alhamdulillah.”
