A Romanian court has approved a request from the United Kingdom to extradite influencer Andrew Tate, a citizen of the United Kingdom and the United States, and his brother over accusations of rape and sexual assault.
The brothers may be extradited after separate proceedings in the former kickboxer's rape and human trafficking case in Romania are concluded.
The court ordered the immediate release of Tate and his brother Tristan Tate from police custody in Romania, the BBC and the Independent reported on Tuesday.
The controversial internet personality and his brother were detained Monday in Romania and served with an arrest warrant issued by British authorities, his spokeswoman Mateea Petrescu told the Associated Press. The brothers were detained for 24 hours over allegations of sexual assault in a UK case dating back to 2012-2015 and appeared in handcuffs on Tuesday before the Bucharest Court of Appeal, where they were escorted by police.
The brothers “categorically deny all charges,” Petrescu said. They appeared in court on Tuesday to make the decision on whether to execute the orders, which were issued by Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, and trigger the extradition process. (It is unclear what Tristan Tate is accused of.)
Bedfordshire Police told the Independent they have obtained a European arrest warrant and are working with authorities in Romania.
According to the AP, Tate's attorney, Eugen Vidineac, praised the court's decision, saying it “provides an opportunity for the brothers to fully participate in their defense” and for the legal process to “proceed in a transparent manner.”
The brothers were arrested on Monday after four women reported Andrew Tate, a prominent social media personality known for expressing misogynistic views online, to UK authorities for alleged sexual violence and physical abuse. However, the Crown Prosecution Service refused to prosecute him, so the alleged victims turned to crowdfunding to cover their legal costs while they pursued a civil case against him.
Andrew Tate, 37, and Tristan, 35, who also holds dual British and American citizenship, reject the charges and “express deep disappointment that such serious allegations are being resurrected without substantial new evidence,” their representative said. to the AP.
The law firm representing the four British women who accuse Andrew Tate of rape and physical and sexual assault said in a statement Tuesday that they had urged British police to “immediately seek a warrant” for his arrest and extradition after receive information last week that he may have been planning to flee Romania.
The self-described misogynist, who has reportedly lived in Romania since 2017, has repeatedly claimed that Romanian prosecutors have no evidence against him and has long claimed that there is a political conspiracy to silence him.
“Matrix is afraid, but I only fear God,” he said on a Tuesday cheep on his X account (formerly Twitter), which has amassed 8.9 million followers. Tate uses the term “Matrix” to refer to a simulated reality created by advanced technology and what he considers a broad conspiracy targeting men.
Before the decision was made, Vidineac told reporters Tuesday in court that “as far as we know, this investigation has already been closed, we don't know if this investigation is reopened or if there is new evidence presented by the authorities.” Another lawyer representing Tate, Constantin Gliga, said the court's decision will help “clarify the legal situation” in Romania.
Tate was arrested in December 2022 in Bucharest and charged in June 2023 with rape, human trafficking, and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. Romanian prosecutors formally charged him, his brother and two Romanian women in June and have denied the allegations. His case is being argued in the pretrial court stages, the AP reported, a process in which defendants can challenge prosecutors' evidence. But no trial date has been set.
The brothers will remain under judicial control in Romania, preventing them from traveling outside the country, the BBC reported.
Lawyers for alleged abuse victims held a news conference in Bucharest last October in which they accused Tate and his followers of trying to intimidate their clients into silence.
After their arrest in 2022, the brothers were detained for three months in police custody. They were later transferred to house arrest and eventually restricted to areas of the Bucharest municipality and the nearby Ilfov county.
Tate was previously banned from major social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech. The week he was arrested in 2022, he made headlines for his public war of words with then-teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg.
In January, Tate won an appeal challenging the seizure of his assets by Romanian authorities – including 15 luxury cars, 14 designer watches and cash in various currencies worth an estimated €3.6 million ( 3.9 million dollars)) in the weeks after his arrest.
