Andrew Tate to remain in detention after losing appeal against 30-day extension
27 February 2023, 22:57 | Updated: 28 February 2023, 00:58
A Romanian court has rejected Andrew Tate's appeal against a 30-day extension of his detention.
The former kickboxer's brother Tristan will also remain in detention.
Andrew Tate, who is held on suspicion of organised crime and human trafficking, was appealing against a judge's decision to keep him in Romanian prison for a further 30 days.
It was the 36-year-old's third appeal against his detention since his arrest in late December.
Two Romanian women, who are associates of the Tate brothers, were allowed to leave custody for house arrest last week but have been ordered back into detention.
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It is the third separate appeal the brothers have lost against decisions to extend their detention while investigations continue.
No one has yet been charged in the investigation, and all four people will remain in prison until at least March 29.
All four deny any wrongdoing.
According to a court document outlining the decision, the judge took into account the "particular dangerousness of the defendants", as well as their capacity to identify the victims "with an increased vulnerability in search of better life opportunities".
Andrew Tate, who has described himself as the "king of toxic masculinity", has previously been kicked off various social media platforms over his views.
The British-US citizen, who grew up in Luton, repeatedly said that prosecutors have no evidence, and alleged the case is a "political" conspiracy designed to silence him.
After the court's ruling on Monday, a post appeared on his Twitter account, which read: “They weaponize lies to keep me in here. But you cannot hide the sun forever.”
DIICOT said in a statement after the arrests late last year that it had found six victims in the human trafficking case, who were allegedly subjected to "acts of physical violence and mental coercion", and sexually exploited by members of the alleged crime group.
The agency said victims were lured with pretences of love, but were later intimidated and placed under surveillance and subjected to control tactics, while being made to engage in pornographic acts for financial gain of the alleged crime group.
Last month, authorities in the country seized millions of pounds of the viral star's assets, including various luxury cars, from a compound outside Bucharest.
Prosecutors say that it can be proved the car's owners gained their money through illicit activities such as human trafficking, they will be used to cover the costs of the probe and compensate victims.
Tate also made an unsuccessful appeal against the asset seizure.
