BUCHAREST, RUSSIA — An official said that a Romanian court upheld a second 30-day detention for the Tik Toker and former kickboxer Andrew Tate, who is being held on suspicion of organized crime and human trafficking.
Ramona Bolla, a spokeswoman for Romania’s DIICOT agency that fights organized crime, said that Tate lost his appeal against a judge’s decision on January 20 to keep him in jail for another 30 days.
Andrew, a British-American citizen with nearly 5 million Twitter followers, arrived at the Bucharest Court of Appeal handcuffed to his brother Tristan, who is being held in the same case as two Romanian women. None of the four have been charged formally.
The court didn’t agree with their arguments, so they’ll all stay in jail until February 27 while prosecutors look into the case. They previously lost an appeal over a 30-day extension.
A document that explains the judge’s decision on January 20 says that he or she took into account the defendants’ “special dangerousness” and their ability to find victims who were “more vulnerable and looking for better life opportunities.”
Tate Seeks Better Defence
Tina Glandian, an American lawyer who has worked with famous people like singer Chris Brown and former heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson, joined the Andrews’ legal team on Wednesday.
“The defense team made extensive legal arguments pointing out the lack of evidence against the Tate brothers,” she said before the ruling at a press conference. “It’s no secret that the Tate brothers are controversial public figures, but this isn’t about them… this is about a violation of international human rights and due process of law.”
“The system has failed so far,” she said. “The Tate brothers, both US citizens, have been imprisoned for more than 30 days without bail and with no charges filed against them.”
“Ask them for evidence, and they will give you none because it doesn’t exist,” Andrew Tate said as the Tates left the court after Wednesday’s morning hearing. You’ll learn the truth about this case soon.”
Tate is said to have moved to Romania in 2017. Before that, he was not allowed to use several popular social media sites to share his misogynistic and hateful views. He claims there is “zero evidence” against him in the case and that it is a “political” attack to silence him.
“My case is political, not criminal. It has nothing to do with justice or fairness. It’s about undermining my global influence,” read a post on his Twitter account on Sunday.
Tates Following Has Grown Since His Arrest
Since his arrest in December, his Twitter following has grown by several hundred thousand. An online petition to free the brothers, launched in January, has nearly 100,000 signatures.
Following the arrests of the Tates and the two women, the DIICOT anti-organized crime agency said in a statement that it had identified six victims in the human trafficking case who had been subjected to “acts of physical violence and mental coercion” and sexually exploited by members of the alleged crime group.
According to the agency, victims were enticed with false promises of love, intimidated, placed under surveillance, and subjected to other forms of control while coerced into engaging in pornographic acts for large financial gain.
Last month, Romanian police raided the Tate brothers’ property near Bucharest and took a fleet of luxury cars, including a Rolls-Royce, a Ferrari, and a Porsche. They reported seizing assets valued at $3.9 million.
Prosecutors have stated that if they can prove the car owners made money from illegal activities such as human trafficking, the assets will be used to cover investigation costs and compensate victims. Tate also lost his appeal against the asset seizure.
SOURCE – (AP)
