19 December 2024 , 17:34
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Andrew Tate’s trial into alleged human trafficking in Romania can no longer go ahead because of ‘multiple’ mistakes made by prosecutors.
Tate, 38, and his brother Tristan, 36, were both arrested two years ago and along with two women are charged with human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
Andrew also faced an additional rape charge.
But the Bucharest Court of Appeal has now ruled that the human trafficking case cannot go to trial.
The request for the appeals court to review the case was made by Tate’s defense team.
His spokesperson, Mateea Petrescu, said the court’s decision ‘confirms the lack of credible evidence or consistency in the accusations’ by the prosecutors.
The trial can no longer go ahead as planned (Picture: EPA)
She added: ‘The review revealed significant procedural flaws and raised serious concerns about the integrity of the investigative process, further undermining the credibility of the prosecution’s case.’
The court effectively returned the case to the prosecutors, who can now bring forth new evidence to back up their charges, or amend and change the existing ones.
In November, the same court gave prosecutors five days to amend their case file or withdraw it.
It also ordered some evidence should be removed, including witness statements by two alleged victims and statements by the Tate brothers, deeming them inadmissible.
The same court also said it had identified multiple flaws in the prosecutors’ case, which had failed to adequately explain the charges against Andrew to one alleged female victim, and that the charges against the two female suspects were not properly presented.
This doesn’t mean that the Tate brothers and two women can walk free, however, as the case has not been closed. There is also a separate legal case against the brothers.
All four defendants deny the allegations made against them.
Speaking after the ruling, Andrew Tate said prosecutors ‘had years to build their case’ and to ‘tear apart my life… and yet, they have nothing’.
Earlier this week, Tate was ordered by a UK court to pay £2million over unpaid tax.
In August, Romania’s anti-organised crime agency 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 also denied those charges.