EXCLUSIVE | Brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, serious accusations in front of CAB judges: „We are kept in detention to break down mentally”
Brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate made serious accusations before the judges of the Bucharest Court of Appeal (CAB), where their appeal against the extension of their pre-trial detention was heard. They say they are being held in custody „to break down mentally”.
In front of a panel consisting of a judge and a female judge from the Bucharest Court of Appeal, the Tate brothers maintained their innocence and made serious accusations against the Romanian justice system.
They argued in court that they are innocent and are being held in custody to break down mentally.
Moreover, they expressed their dissatisfaction that the DIICOT prosecutor has not yet seen the CCTV footage which, in their opinion, would be solid arguments in their defense and that and these videos were not even entered in the file.
On the other hand, Mike Tyson’s lawyer, Tina Glandian, was allowed into the courtroom but did not speak as she is not licensed to practice in Romania. The court let her talk to the Tate brothers who were in the defendant’s box.
What the Tate brothers and Tina Glandian discussed is confidential, but the lawyer is part of Andrew and Tristan Tate’s defense team.
Tate brothers challenge extension of pre-trial detention
On the 20th of January, at the request of the prosecutors, the Bucharest Court extended the existing preventive arrest warrants for Andrew and Tristan Tate for another 30 days, from the 29th of January to the 27th of February.
The decision was challenged by the lawyers of the two British brothers and the case was heard on Wednesday at the Bucharest Court of Appeal. The magistrates of this court are still deliberating and will decide whether to release them or whether they will continue to be remanded in custody.
Magistrates of the Court of Appeal are due to consider the issues in the case and determine whether they pose a danger to society and thus remain behind bars until at least the 27th of February.
The decision of the Court of Appeal will be final, so if they are successful, Andrew and Tristan will be released immediately.
The two Brits arrested in Romania for human trafficking.
Brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, together with Georgiana Naghel and Luana Alexandra Radu, were issued their first preventive arrest warrants on the 30th of December 2022, after they had been detained by DIICOT prosecutors the day before, following searches of their villa in Pipera and their videochat studio.
On the 20th of January, at the request of the prosecutors, the Bucharest Court extended their preventive arrest warrants for another 30 days, from the 29th of January to the 27th of February.
The DIICOT prosecutors succeeded in convincing the judge at the Bucharest Court to extend the Tate brothers’ arrest warrants, arguing that, left free, they „could exercise psychological control over the victims”.
The prosecutors also say that brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate could flee Romania if released from custody. In this context, the DIICOT prosecutors made use of an earlier statement by one of the two eccentric millionaires, in which he indicated that he had accounts in 19 countries around the world and could fly using several passports.
„If I’m wrong and England wants me in jail, I can fly with a Nigerian or American or English or Polish or Estonian passport. I have bank accounts in 19 countries,” prosecutors quoted the statement of one of the Tate brothers in their report.
The arguments and evidence presented by the DIICOT prosecutors convinced the Bucharest Court to extend their preventive arrest warrants for another 30 days, and the judge considered that their release „would create real risks for the proper conduct of the criminal trial”.
Andrew and Tristan Tate are accused of „establishing an organized criminal group with a view to committing the crime of trafficking in human beings on the territory of Romania and other countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom”.
„The victims were then transported and housed in buildings in Ilfov county where, through acts of physical violence and psychological (through intimidation, constant surveillance, control and the allegation of debts), were sexually exploited by members of the group by being forced to engage in pornographic acts with a view to producing and disseminating such material via social media platforms and by being forced to perform forced labor in order to obtain significant financial benefits consisting in sums of money obtained as a result of users accessing the material”, according to the DIICOT.
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