BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — The internet influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan will no longer be allowed to leave Romania as they await trial on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, following a new court ruling Tuesday.
The earlier court ruled July 5 that the 37-year-old Andrew Tate, a social media personality known for expressing misogynistic views online, and his brother Tristan, 36, could leave Romania as long as they remained within the 27-member European Union.
But on Tuesday the Bucharest Court of Appeal ruled in favor of prosecutors who challenged that decision.
The brothers’ spokesperson, Mateea Petrescu, said the decision is final and that the pair cannot leave Romania.
The Tate brothers, both former kickboxers and dual British-U.S. citizens, were arrested in December 2022 near Bucharest, the Romanian capital, along with two Romanian women.
Romanian prosecutors formally indicted all four in June last year with forming a group to traffic women, allegations they all deny.
“The court has ruled and we respect its decision. Tristan and Andrew Tate will fully comply with the Court’s decision as well as the obligations included in the judicial control, just as they have done so far,” said Eugen Vidineac, a laywer for the brothers. “They remain dedicated to clearing their names and reputation in the court of law.”
On April 26, the Bucharest Tribunal ruled that the prosecutors’ case file against the four met the legal criteria and that a trial could start but did not set a date for it to begin. That ruling came after the legal case had been discussed for months in the preliminary chamber stages, a process in which the defendants can challenge prosecutors’ evidence and case file.
After the Tate brothers’ arrest, they were held for three months in police detention before being moved to house arrest. They were later restricted to the Bucharest municipality and the surrounding Ilfov county, and later to all of Romania.
Andrew Tate, who has amassed 9.7 million followers on the social media platform X, has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him. He was previously banned from various social media platforms for misogynistic views and hate speech.