Controversial
influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan have had their custody in
Romania extended for a third time, and will remain in detention until at least
the end of March.
The pair were
arrested in December on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an
organised crime group.
Both men have
denied any wrongdoing.
Their detention
had previously been upheld until 27 February, and has now been extended for
another 30 days.
Two Romanian
women being held with the brothers - Georgiana Naghel and Luana Radu - will be
released from custody and instead kept under house arrest.
Prosecutors
applied for the latest extension earlier on Tuesday. Judges had justified the
previous extension by citing the capacity of "the defendants to exercise
permanent psychological control over the victims".
FITNESS AND SPORTS
Speaking after
today's extension application was filed, lawyers for the Tates told journalists
that no new evidence was presented at the hearing, and that the prosecutors'
case did not support the brothers' continued detention.
A legal adviser
for the brothers told the BBC last week that they would challenge any decision
to keep them in custody beyond next Monday. Asked how the brothers were
responding to their continued detention, she replied that it was "very
challenging".
Mr Tate, a
former kickboxer, rose to fame in 2016 when he was removed from British TV show
Big Brother over a video which appeared to show him attacking a woman.
He went on to gain notoriety online, with Twitter banning him for saying women should "bear responsibility" for being sexually assaulted. He has since been reinstated.
Despite social
media bans he gained popularity, particularly among young men, by promoting
what he presented as a hyper-masculine, ultra-luxurious lifestyle
By Lucy Williamson ||BBC News, Bucharest
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