BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A court in Romania on Tuesday ruled that prosecutors’ indictment against influencer Andrew Tate contains multiple irregularities and gave them less than a week to amend or withdraw the case of alleged human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
The ruling by the Bucharest Court of Appeal is a major setback for Romania’s anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT, which must act within five days.
The appeals court also ordered that some evidence be removed. Its decision comes nearly two years after Tate, 37, and his brother Tristan Tate, 36, were arrested along with two Romanian women near the capital.
Romanian prosecutors formally indicted all four last year. In April, the Bucharest Tribunal ruled that a trial could start but did not set a date.
All four deny all of the allegations.
“This is a monumental victory for our clients, who have maintained their innocence from the beginning,” said Eugen Vidineac, one of the brothers’ lawyers. “The court’s decision to exclude key evidence and demand rectification of the indictment demonstrates the lack of substantiated claims against them.”
There was no immediate statement by prosecutors.
The appeals court ruled it identified multiple flaws in the prosecutors’ case file against the Tates, saying prosecutors had failed to adequately explain the charges against Andrew to one alleged female victim, and that the charges against the female suspects were not properly presented. It said the indictment failed to specify the amounts related to the confiscation of assets in the case.
The court ordered some evidence removed including witness statements by two alleged victims and witness statements made by Andrew and Tristan, which were deemed inadmissible. The court did not say why.
After the ruling, Andrew Tate, a former kickboxer and dual British-U.S. citizen who has amassed over 10 million followers on the social media platform X, said: “The prosecution knew they were lies. We knew they were lies.”
In August, DIICOT launched a second case against the Tate brothers investigating allegations of human trafficking, the trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, influencing statements and money laundering. They have denied all of the charges. Tuesday’s ruling doesn’t affect this case.
In March, the Tate brothers appeared at the Bucharest Court of Appeal in a separate case after British authorities issued arrest warrants over allegations of sexual aggression in a U.K. case dating back to 2012-2015.
The appeals court granted the British request to extradite the Tates, but only after legal proceedings in Romania have concluded.
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