Influencer and former professional kickboxer Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan, have been upheld for the third time in a 30-day incarceration.
Tate was detained in Romania on allegations of organized crime and human smuggling involvement.
Tate’s appeal, a Romanian judge’s reserved verdict on February 21 and announced to extend of his detention for a third time by 30 days.
Tate, a 36-year-old British-American, U.S. citizen with 5.2 million Twitter followers and a reputation for expressing misogynistic views, came shackled at the Bucharest Court of Appeal alongside his brother Tristan, who is imprisoned in the same case.
According to Ramona Bolla, prosecutors also won an appeal against a court’s decision last week to place two suspects in the case on home arrest instead of indefinite detention on Monday. None of the four have yet been formally charged.
Read: #PizzaTate: Greta Thunberg mocks influencer’s imprisonment in Romania
The third separate appeal by the brothers against the decision to hold them in custody while investigations continue was denied. However, according to Bolla, all four will remain incarcerated until March 29.
According to a document describing an earlier decision to keep the defendants incarcerated, the judge cited their “extraordinarily dangerous” nature and their propensity to find victims “with heightened vulnerability in quest of better life possibilities.”
Tate, who has lived in Romania since 2017, was previously barred from using a variety of social media networks for posting racist and sexist comments. He has frequently asserted that Romanian prosecutors lack proof and that their case is a “political” conspiracy to silence him.
Monday, immediately after the court’s judgment, Andrew Tate tweeted, “They weaponize lies to keep me locked up. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to block out the sun.
Six victims of human trafficking who were allegedly subjected to “acts of physical violence and mental coercion” and sexual exploitation by members of the accused criminal organization have been identified, according to a statement issued by DIICOT after the arrests in December.
According to the authorities, victims were lured with claims of love into performing pornographic activities for the criminal organization’s financial advantage. After that, victims were subjected to intimidation, surveillance, and other types of control.
In January, Romanian authorities seized a collection of luxury automobiles, including a Rolls-Royce, a Ferrari, and a Porsche, from a Tate brothers-affiliated compound outside of Bucharest. They reported acquiring products with an approximate value of $3.09 million.
Read: Romania authorities seize 15 luxury cars from Andrew Tate
Prosecutors claim that the assets would be used to pay for investigation expenses and to compensate victims if they can prove that the owners of the vehicles obtained money through illegal means such as human trafficking. Tate attempted in vain to have the asset confiscation reversed.
