Andrew Tate and his brother have been released from jail in Romania.
The duo's appeal against their detention was successful, after they were arrested in Bucharest at the end of December last year. The controversial influencers failed to overturn a decision to deny them bail earlier this week but were today successful in appealing last week's decision to extend their incarceration by another 30 days.
The Mirror reports that they are now being held on house arrest, along with two Romanian women who were also arrested in relation to the investigation. As recently as this week, the Tates were held on their preventative arrest by a Romanian judge after six efforts to secure their release.
But they appeared confident that this week they would be freed, with both brothers tweeting a cryptic message that simply read "Friday. InshaAllah." The Tates were arrested in December on suspicion of alleged human trafficking and forming an organised crime group and placed in temporary detention.
They, along with two others, were removed from their plush Bucharest home and locked up under "preventative arrest".
Andrew, 36, is a four-time world kickboxing champion, while Tristan, 34, won titles at European level during a less-decorated career in the ring. But their fame arrived away from the sport when they emerged as huge social media stars last summer, going viral for a string of controversial videos that led concerned viewers to brand them misogynist and dangerous.
Despite being locked up, both brothers have maintained a strong social media presence throughout this year, with Andrew's page posting frequent messages to his 5.4million followers. Tristan, while less prolific, continues to share posts on a relatively regular basis to his 1million Twitter followers.
All-in-all, the pair had made five attempts at release prior to Wednesday's hearing. The two brothers could have been held in this manner for a maximum of six months in total as part of their 'preventative arrest', despite facing no formal charges at the time of publication.
Last year, Andrew was banned from social media for reportedly misogynistic views, with one particularly problematic post claiming that women "bear responsibility" for sexual assault. Despite his ban, Tate regained his Twitter profile and amassed millions of followers when Elon Musk took over the company and reinstated a number of controversial pages.
Romanian officials previously raided a property owned by the Tate brothers, seizing assets of which officials believe to be valued at $3.9m. The brothers have appealed against their imprisonment but on both occasions the court ruled against them. The brothers deny all allegations against them.
A spokesperson for Tate said last week after a previous attempt at release: "The court has decided to extend the Tate brothers’ preventative arrest. We have been rendered speechless by the news. The interaction with the judge was extremely dynamic and the brothers were offered for the first time the opportunity to present all legal guarantees that they are not a flight risk.
"They are the first ones who want light to be shed on this case. The substantial material damages they have suffered are nothing compared to the moral ones. Their image has been irreparably harmed and it will take years to rebuild the reputation, trust and connection with the general public."
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