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Masked police officers in Romania have carried out fresh raids at the home of divisive internet influencer Andrew Tate, who is awaiting trial on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
Romania's anti-organised-crime agency, DIICOT, said it was searching four homes in Bucharest and nearby Ilfov county on Wednesday, investigating allegations of human trafficking, the trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, influencing statements and money laundering. The agency added that hearings would later be held at its headquarters.
Tate's spokesperson, Mateea Petrescu, said in response to the raids that "although the charges in the search warrant are not yet fully clarified, they include suspicions of human trafficking and money laundering" and added that his legal team is present. Petrescu did not address the allegations involving minors.
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Dozens of police officers and forensic personnel were scouring Tate's large property on the edge of the capital, Bucharest.
"During the entire criminal process, the investigated persons benefit from the procedural rights and guarantees provided by the Code of Criminal Procedure, as well as the presumption of innocence," DIICOT noted in its statement.
The 37-year-old Andrew and his brother Tristan, 36, both former kickboxers and dual British-US citizens who have amassed millions of social media followers, were arrested in 2022 near Bucharest along with two Romanian women. Romanian prosecutors formally indicted all four last year. They have denied the allegations.
As the Tate brothers were ushered from their home into a police van outside, Andrew complained to reporters that the case was progressing too slowly.
"What I've done wrong, who knows," he claimed.
Andrew is known for expressing misogynistic views online and has amassed 9.9 million followers on the social media platform X.
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He has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him. He was previously banned from various social media platforms for misogynistic views and hate speech.
In April, the Bucharest Tribunal ruled that the prosecutors' case file against the four met the legal criteria and that a trial could start but did not set a date for it to begin. That ruling came after the legal case had been discussed for months in the preliminary chamber stages, a process in which the defendants can challenge prosecutors' evidence and case file.
After the Tate brothers' arrest in 2022, they were held for three months in police detention before being moved to house arrest. They were later restricted to the Bucharest and Ilfov counties, and later to all of Romania.
Last month, a court overturned an earlier decision that allowed the Tate brothers to leave Romania as they await trial. The decision was final.
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The earlier court ruled on July 5 that they could leave the country as long as they remained within the 27-member European Union.
In March, the Tate brothers also appeared at the Bucharest Court of Appeal in a separate case, after British authorities issued arrest warrants over allegations of sexual aggression in a UK case dating back to 2012-2015.
The appeals court granted the British request to extradite the the Tates to the UK, but only after legal proceedings in Romania have concluded.
