A Romanian court lifted a house arrest order against internet personality Andrew Tate, replacing it with a lighter preventative measure pending the outcome of a criminal investigation, a spokesperson for Tate said.
Tate, a self-styled misogynist and social media influencer, has been under house arrest since August when prosecutors started a second criminal investigation against him, his brother Tristan and four other suspects.
They face accusations of forming an organised criminal group, human trafficking, trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering. They have all denied wrongdoing.
A first criminal case against Tate failed in December when the Bucharest court of appeals ruled not to put him on trial but rather send the case back to prosecutors. The decision, which cited flaws in the indictment, dealt a blow to Romania’s anti-organised crime prosecuting unit DIICOT.
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On Tuesday, judges lifted the house arrest measure as part of the second criminal investigation.
"This ruling marks a decisive step forward, granting (Tate) the freedom to travel throughout Romania while adhering to the required legal conditions," his representatives said.
Under the lighter preventative measure, known as judicial control, Tate is required to check in with police at regular intervals and is not allowed to contact other suspects or witnesses in his case. He cannot leave Romania.
The Tate brothers, both former kickboxers with dual US and British citizenship, are the highest profile suspects facing trial for human trafficking in Romania.
The Tate brothers also have a British arrest warrant and will be extradited after Romanian trial proceedings finish, a court ruled in March.
Meanwhile, Northern Ireland MP Sorcha Eastwood has begun legal action against Andrew and Tristan Tate over social media posts.
A lawyer for the Alliance Party MP said the posts were made on Friday, the day after she had told MPs that she was a “survivor of abuse” and had received rape threats.
Kevin Winters of KRW Law said: “We act on behalf of Sorcha Eastwood MP. We are instructed to issue legal proceedings against Andrew and Tristan Tate over their continued publication of social media postings on 10 January 2025.
“We can confirm service of correspondence on today’s date to their solicitors. In light of the sensitivities of the issues engaged, we have no further comment at this stage.”
Ms Eastwood told the House of Commons last week that a member of the public “came up and said they wanted to rape me” during a school visit she was leading at Stormont.
During the debate on violence against women and girls, Ms Eastwood also raised concerns about incel culture, an online group who describe themselves as “involuntary celibates”.
The Lagan Valley MP said: “I am a survivor of abuse myself. Northern Ireland is one of the most dangerous places in Europe to be a woman.”
She added: “We previously did a lot of visits to the Northern Ireland Parliament building Stormont whenever I sat there in the Northern Ireland Assembly, and during one school visit a member of the public came up and said they wanted to rape me.
“And there were two people there and we just kind of were paralysed with the response, and that was not the right response. Not from me, but from the people around.”
The posts that have caused Ms Eastwood to launch the legal action were made on social media the day following the debate.
Andrew Tate has previously been banned from TikTok, YouTube and Facebook after the platforms accused him of posting hate speech and misogynistic comments, including that women should bear responsibility for being sexually assaulted.
But he remains popular on X, with almost 10 million followers, many of them young men and schoolchildren. - Reuters/PA
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