Controversial influencer Andrew Tate and his brother have been released from prison in Romania and placed under house arrest after winning an appeal over their detention.
The Bucharest Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Tate’s appeal, which challenged a judge’s decision last week to extend his arrest a fourth time for 30 days, an official said.
The investigation into trafficking claims against Andrew and Tristan Tate continues, officials said.
Tate, who has gained notoriety over the years for peddling misogynistic views, was detained with his brother and two Romanian women in late December on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group.
All four won an appeal on Friday, and will remain under house arrest until 29 April, according to Ramona Bolla, a spokesperson for Romania’s anti-organised crime agency, Diicot.
None of the four has yet been charged.
Diicot said in December after the arrests that it had identified 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 and later intimidated, placed under surveillance and subjected to other control tactics while being coerced into engaging in pornographic acts for the financial gain of the crime group.
Tate, a 36-year-old British-US citizen who has 5.4 million Twitter followers, last month lost an appeal against further detention.
He has repeatedly claimed Romanian prosecutors have no evidence, and alleged their case is a political conspiracy designed to silence him.
The former professional kickboxer, who has lived in Romania since 2017, was previously banned from various social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech.
Before he was banned from Instagram, Tate had a following on the platform of 4.6 million.
He has different “business ventures” such as Hustler’s University, an online “academy” where members pay a monthly membership fee.
