Andrew Tate to remain in prison after Romanian judge grants 30-day extension
20 January 2023, 13:50 | Updated: 20 January 2023, 13:59
Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan will remain in prison for another 30 days after a Romanian judge granted prosecutors another request to extend their detention.
The social media personality has been detained in the country for weeks as prosecutors investigate a case of human trafficking case and rape.
Tate, 36, a British-US citizen with 4.7 million Twitter followers, was initially arrested in Bucharest on December 29 on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and being part of an organised crime gang.
His brother Tristan and two Romanian women will remain in prison as part of the same investigation.
Ramona Bolla, a spokeswoman from Romania's anti-organised crime agency Diicot, said a request for a 30-day extension to keep all four in detention was approved on Friday while investigations continue.
All four lost an appeal last week at a Bucharest court, which ruled to uphold a judge's December 30 move to uphold an earlier decision to extend their arrest from 24 hours to 30 days.
They deny the allegations against them.
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Several luxury cars belonging to Tate were recently seized from his property in Bucharest.
Cars including a Rolls-Royce, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW were seen being removed from the Tate compound on Saturday to be moved to a storage facility, Reuters reported.
It comes after Romania's crime agency searched properties in the Bucharest, Prahova, and Brasov as part of investigations into charges against Tate relating to human trafficking and rape.
Tate's lawyer in Romania has previously said the Andrew's hugely controversial social media presence cannot be used against him in the human trafficking and rape investigation.
Eugen Vidineac, representing the brothers, said there is no evidence to support the allegations against them and their co-accused, and said his social media profile he has put out cannot be "used as evidence in a criminal trial" because it may not reflect who they really are.
"I will point this out from the beginning, that even up to the present moment, the criminal investigation file has not been made available to us to ensure the effective defence of our clients," he said.
"In this sense, I would like to point out, at least from this point of view, I am also somehow amazed, there is not a single piece of evidence apart from the victim's statement that leads to the idea that a crime of rape was committed."
