Andrew Tate’s detention replaced with house arrest

Associated Press Reporter

Andrew Tate, the divisive internet personality who has spent months in a Romanian jail on suspicion of organised crime and human trafficking, has won an appeal to replace his detention with house arrest, an official said on Friday.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Tate’s appeal, which challenged a judge’s decision last week to extend his arrest a fourth time for 30 days, said Ramona Bolla, a spokesperson for Romania’s anti-organised crime agency, DIICOT.

Tate (36), a British-US citizen who has 5.4 million Twitter followers, was initially detained in late December in Romania’s capital Bucharest, along with his brother Tristan and two Romanian women.

All four won an appeal on Friday, and will remain under house arrest until April 29, the spokesperson said.

None of the four has yet been formally indicted.

The court ruled in favour of their immediate release.

Tate, a professional kickboxer who has resided in Romania since 2017, was previously banned from various social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech.

He has repeatedly claimed Romanian prosecutors have no evidence and alleged their case is a “political” conspiracy designed to silence him.