A Bucharest court has moved to proceed with the trial of Andrew Tate, the Anglo-American social media influencer who has been charged with rape, human trafficking, and running a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
Tate, 37, and his brother Tristan were arrested in December 2022. Both men were indicted last June, along with two Romanian women alleged to have been their accomplices. They have denied all allegations.
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The Tates have challenged the indictment in the preliminary chamber stage. On Friday, the Bucharest Tribunal ruled it would allow the case to go forward, but has not set a trial date.
“The ruling issued by the preliminary chamber judge lacks legal basis and reasoning,” said Eugen Vidineac, one of the lawyers for the Tate brothers. “We have filed a strong appeal as we believe the ruling to be unlawful.”
Another attorney, Ioan Gliga, told AP that the arguments challenging the criminal investigation and the indictments “did not receive the necessary attention in the preliminary hearing,” but that the Tates’ defense was confident that the appeals court will rule in their favor.
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The brothers were jailed for three months before being moved to house arrest. Since then, the courts have allowed them to move around Romania but denied their petition to travel within the EU.
Last month, Romania agreed to extradite the Tates to the UK over allegations of “sexual aggression” dating back to 2012-2015, but only after the domestic legal proceedings have concluded.