A judge has determined that controversial influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan will stay detained in Romania for a fourth consecutive month.
Since December, the brothers have been jailed and are being probed for alleged rape, human trafficking, and the formation of an organized crime ring. Both parties have denied guilt.
Andrew Tate will be imprisoned until the end of April, according to his lawyers.
According to the team’s spokesperson, Mateea Petrescu, the group is “speechless.”
Attorneys for the brothers informed a Bucharest court that no new evidence had been presented by prosecutors at Wednesday’s hearing.
They also suggested that the notoriety of their clients was a factor in the decision to hold them in jail.
Ms. Petrescu reported that, for the first time, the court requested the brothers to directly address the prosecution’s claims that they posed a flight risk and a threat to public order.
Despite what was described as a “dynamic encounter,” the judge determined that the two men should remain in preventative custody for an additional 30 days, until the end of April.
Ms. Petrescu stated that the team was rendered “speechless” by the court’s ruling.
She stated that the boys’ protracted detention had irreversibly damaged their reputation and that it would take years to restore it.
A lawyer representing the Tate family in the United States recently approached one of the claimed victims in the case, threatening to sue her and her family for defamation if she did not retract her allegations.
Consistently, judges have defended their decision to keep them in custody on the grounds that they could exert pressure on witnesses or tamper with evidence.
During prior hearings, investigators reportedly provided evidence from phone calls taken during the custody of the brothers.
Suspects may be held without trial for up to six months under Romanian law, with the approval of the courts.
Another attorney, Eugen Vidineac, told the BBC: “In all the volumes of the file, you will never find a single document containing pornographic material to support the allegation that [the women] were forced to publish pornographic material.”
Nevertheless, leaked court records viewed by the BBC last month detailed the evidence of alleged victims who claimed they were compelled to earn €10,000 (£8,800) per month on social networking platforms under the fear of physical assault.
In court documents, debts were also defined as “a kind of psychological coercion.”
When investigations began in April of last year, prosecutors identified six women as victims. It is thought that four of them testified against the Tate family.
Two others have stated that they do not consider themselves to be victims, but detectives continue to treat them as such on the basis that some victims keep a strong emotional link with their traffickers.
An expert in human trafficking law opined that in any future trial, prosecutors must offer hard proof in lieu of relying entirely on victim testimony.
Silvia Tabusca of Romanian-American University told the BBC,
“What is different [in the Tate probe] is how the prosecution has begun to establish the case.”
She claims that in Romania there is a legal overlap between human trafficking, which implies force or coercion, and prostitution, which indicates the victim’s permission.
She stated,
“There is tremendous public pressure on victims.”
“We have discovered that victims are unwilling to assist with the court after two or three years. If the trial relies heavily on the victim’s evidence, the [defence] attorneys can easily shift the accusation from human trafficking to prostitution.”
In addition, there are legal gaps surrounding internet exploitation, which the European Union is attempting to close.
Malin Bjork, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on the matter, stated, “The means and tools used by traffickers have changed.”
She is leading discussions on a new EU directive that “clarifies that online crimes are just as serious as offline crimes.”
It is anticipated that the European Parliament will vote on it this summer.
Very complex cases
Daniel Ticau, a former prosecutor with the organized crime unit overseeing the Tate investigation, stated that this case might highlight Romania’s ability to conduct such investigations.
“From my perspective, there is a severe lack of political will to establish this capacity to effectively handle parallel financial investigations in organized crime, particularly in human trafficking, drug trafficking, and other significant crimes,” he stated.
Ms. Tabusca stated that Romania typically faces a noticeable lack of resources.
“There are currently over 800 active cases of human trafficking, many of which are transnational and quite complex,” she stated.
“We have seven prosecutors and 48 police officers for these 800 cases.”
In addition to investigating ongoing incidents of alleged human trafficking, they must constantly monitor the phenomenon among a population of more than 20 million people, she explained.
An indictment in a case of human trafficking might take months or even years to assemble.
With three months remaining until Andrew and Tristan Tate must either be released from detention or brought to trial, Romania is under intense scrutiny to demonstrate its ability to withstand pressure.
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