A court in Romania’s capital ruled on Friday that social media influencer Andrew Tate can leave Romania but must stay in the European Union while awaiting trial in Bucharest on human trafficking and rape charges, according to his lawyer.
Mr Tate and his brother Tristan Tate have been fighting charges filed by Romanian prosecutors in a June 2022 indictment accusing them and two Romanian women of forming an organized crime ring. syndicate and trafficked women in Romania, the UK and the US.
Tate, 37, a British-American former kickboxer, has built a large online following by marketing a brand of masculinity associated with chauvinistic views, conservative values and extravagant displays of wealth.
Eugen Vidineac, one of Tate’s lawyers in Romania, said in an interview on Friday that the courts were gradually loosening their grip on the Tate brothers.
“It was a good decision,” he said. “It’s only natural that things will get easier over time.”
The judge is evaluating whether the indictment is legal, Vidinak said, adding that a date for the next hearing has not yet been set.
The brothers were jailed for three months in December 2022 and placed under house arrest in April 2023.
“I’m free,” Tate said on social media on Friday, asking his followers whether he should travel to Cannes, France, the Italian Alps or elsewhere in Europe and which sports car he should drive. “For the first time in three years I can leave Romania. The fake case is falling apart.
In another post, Tate shared a video of himself and his brother dancing to Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing” while smoking cigars.
The brothers deny the accusations and say their wealth makes them targets.
The Taits were detained in March on a separate arrest warrant issued by British authorities charging the brothers with sex crimes. Andrew Tait has been banned from prominent social media sites, with many criticizing his misogynistic views, including a British educationist.
New York lawyer Joseph McBride is representing Mr Tate in a defamation suit he filed in Florida against a woman over allegations made in Romania.
“Anyone who is being tried for human trafficking, if the case is serious, the controls will never be relaxed and they will never be put back on the streets,” McBride said in an interview.
He added that the ruling “clearly and conclusively proves that the charges against them are based on falsehoods.”
