Andrew Tate’s Detention Extended in Romania

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With his promotion of controversial ideas and extravagant lifestyles amassing billions of views and followers across various social media platforms, Andrew Tate’s popularity has skyrocketed within the last two years. However, the ‘Top G’ was arrested recently due to allegations of sexual assault and human trafficking, and has been sitting in a Romanian jail cell since the end of December 2022. Following a court proceeding in late February, Tate’s sentence has been extended for the third time, by another 30 days–until the 27th of March. 

From the very beginning of his rise to popularity in 2016, Tate’s career started with controversy. After a video of him hitting a woman with a belt surfaced, he was kicked out of the reality show Big Brother. Shortly after, Tate responded on Twitter by attaching a picture of him and the woman smiling, stating that they were “acting out a roleplay,” and that he would “never hit a woman.”

Tate would continue to gain popularity by racking up controversy on social media platforms.  He was banned from Twitter in 2017, one year past the Big Brother incident, after claiming that women should “bear some responsibility” as victims of sexual assault. Though Twitter’s ban was eventually lifted five years later in 2022, he remains banned for similar reasons on popular platforms such as TikTok, Youtube, Instagram, and Facebook. 

However, Tate’s content is still prevalent across said platforms as a result of his dedicated fanbase creating hundreds of accounts that repost clips of him.

Robert Lawson, associate professor in sociolinguistics at Birmingham City University, stated in the Today, Explained podcast that “Someone like Tate tries to normalize misogyny. He makes it seem socially acceptable,” and that “he has really traditional and, to my mind, outdated views about what a relationship should look like, and what the role of men and women in those relationships should be.” 

In early 2022, the Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) suspected that Tate had a part in a human trafficking group responsible for harassing six individuals that they had been investigating.

DIICOT launched the first set of raids on his houses in Romania in April 2022 after receiving information that he was holding two women against their will. However, the raids proved to be inconclusive, and Tate was not arrested.

The second set of raids took place on Dec. 30, 2022, and led to a 24-hour detainment period for Andrew Tate, his brother Tristan Tate, as well as two other suspects, after guns and stacks of money were found in his residence. 

There was speculation on social media that, in his video response on Twitter to a statement made by Greta Thunberg, pizza boxes belonging to a local Romanian pizza chain tipped off Tate’s location to DIICOT. This was denied by DIICOT spokesperson Ramona Bolla, stating that “it was a hard job gathering all the evidence” that led to Tate’s arrest. 

On the next day, a 30-day extension of his detention requested by the prosecutor was approved in a Romanian court. 

Despite the four suspects appealing this sentence in court on Jan. 11, the judge deemed it necessary for them to remain in detention. “The possibility of them evading investigations cannot be ignored,” explained the judge in a court document, reasoning that they could “leave Romania and settle in countries that do not allow extradition.” 

Tate’s legal team made their statement on Jan. 7. "I will point out from the beginning, that even up to the present moment, the criminal investigation file has not been made available to us to ensure the effective defense of our clients,” said Eugen Vidineac, one of Tate's lawyers, to the Gandul, an online Romanian newspaper. Vidineac continued that the legal team, after working “day and night trying to piece together the [allegations]," could not find “a single piece of evidence, apart from the victim’s statement, that leads to the idea that a crime of rape was committed.”

On Jan. 20, Tate, as well as the other three suspects, received an additional 30-day extension to their detainment. Though they also appealed this verdict, the judge denied their appeal, explaining that the defendants were particularly dangerous, and that they had the means to identify victims “with an increased vulnerability, in search of better life opportunities.” 

In a press conference held on Feb. 1, Tina Glandian, a US lawyer from Tate’s legal team, said the ruling was a “violation of international human rights and the due process of law.” She stated that the legal team made “extensive legal arguments” in court earlier, “pointing out the lack of evidence against the Tate brothers,” and hopes the court “do the right thing and let the Tate brothers out of custody.” 

On the 21st of February, Tate received another 30-day extension to his sentence after  the approval of another request by the prosecutor for additional time on the investigation, making a total of three extensions. His lawyers said in a video interview with Censored Men Newsletter right after the trial that the persecutors, still, “have not come forward with any new evidence" after the previous two extensions.