A Romanian court has extended by 30 days the house arrest of Andrew Tate, the social media personality who was charged this week with rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
The Bucharest Tribunal's decision came days after prosecutors from Romania's anti-organised crime agency, DIICOT, formally indicted the 36-year-old former professional kickboxer after filing their criminal investigation in a Bucharest court.
Tate, who has nearly seven million Twitter followers and is known for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech, was initially arrested near Romania's capital in late December, along with his brother Tristan. Two Romanian women are also charged in the case.
All four defendants will remain under house arrest for 30 days, the court ruled, but the decision can be subject to an appeal within 48 hours.
DIICOT requested this week that judges extend the house arrest measure as they filed their investigation. Under Romanian law, judges have 60 days to decide whether the case is sent to trial, but this often takes longer.
The agency alleges that the four defendants formed a criminal group in 2021 "in order to commit the crime of human trafficking" in Romania, as well as in the US and the UK. All four have denied the allegations.
There are seven female victims in the case, DIICOT said, who were lured with false promises of love and transported to Romania, where the gang sexually exploited and subjected them to physical violence.
One defendant is accused of raping a woman twice in March 2022, according to the agency. The women were allegedly controlled by "intimidation, constant surveillance" and claims they were in debt, prosecutors said.
The Tate brothers, who are British-US citizens, won an appeal on March 31 to be moved to house arrest after spending three months in police detention.
Andrew Tate, who is known to peddle conspiracy theories online to his mostly young male followers, says prosecutors have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence his views.
In a video posted on Thursday to his Twitter account, he labelled the charges against him as a "level 10 matrix attack" and said: "They're trying to destroy me without evidence."
Tate was previously banned from several prominent social media platforms for hate speech and misogynistic comments, including that women should bear responsibility for being sexually assaulted.
Several women in Britain are pursuing civil claims to obtain damages from Tate, alleging they were victims of sexual violence.
During the investigations, prosecutors ordered the confiscation of the Tate brothers' assets, including 15 luxury cars, watches and about £2.3 million in cryptocurrency.