The controversial British-American 'influencer' Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan, arrested at the end of December in Romania for a case of pimping, were released from prison on Friday night and will remain under house arrest, according to an appeal court decision. from Bucharest.
The court "rejects the prosecution's proposal to prolong provisional detention" and "replaces the preventive measure ordered on the detainees" with "house arrest", indicates the sentence to which AFP had access.
The detainees are suspected of having deceived "several victims, including minors" for the purpose of "sexual exploitation", particularly for the production of porn films, according to the prosecutor's office to fight organized crime (DIICOT).
The media crowded on Friday at the entrance to the prison waiting for his release. Accompanied by one of their Romanian lawyers, they left the police station where they had been detained for three months around midnight (21:00 GMT), an AFP journalist confirmed.
"Finally free!" Andrew Tate declared in front of his house, looking relieved and sporting an imposing beard, in a video posted on Twitter and viewed millions of times.
"I have been between four walls since last year, so there is a bit of emotion," he added, referring to his detention conditions in a "3 m2" room.
"The judges made the right decision," said his brother, Tristan Tate. "We're going home," he added in Romanian.
The curious and fans of the famous and controversial 'influencer' had crowded outside the building and greeted him with shouts of "Top G" (for gangster), his nickname in networks.
The two brothers, Andrew, 36, and Tristan, 34, had been behind bars along with two alleged accomplices since December. Pleading not guilty, they had repeatedly denounced their prolonged detention at the request of the prosecution, the last time on March 22.
His lawyers allege that it is an empty case, without tangible evidence, and he has denied that there is a risk of flight, arguing that his clients have ties to the country.
They are prohibited "from contacting people involved in the case," their lawyer Eugen Vidineac said.
According to the lawyer, "being on the run is not a life the Tate brothers want to have. They are just tired and want to rest."
Two Romanians were released with them, a former police officer and Andrew Tate's girlfriend, arrested along with the brothers on December 29 in a vast operation carried out after several months of investigation.
Andrew Tate, a retired boxer, rose to prominence as a contestant on the UK's Big Brother show in 2016, but was soon kicked out of the contest after a video was released showing him beating a woman.
Then he turned to social networks, where men have been helped to get rich while displaying an unapologetically macho ideology.
Currently, he has millions of followers, most of them teenagers and young people from the Anglo-Saxon world, fascinated by his ideas on how to treat women and his display of muscles, cigars and luxury cars.
Andrew Tate is one of the most searched names on Google.
His profile was suspended in the past on networks due to his misogynistic statements, but his Twitter account, which currently has 5.5 million followers, was returned to him when millionaire Elon Musk bought the platform.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
