Earlier in the day,Tate - a former kickboxing champion andself-described misogynist - got out of a police van handcuffed to his brother as they arrived at a court in Bucharest to appeal a judge’s decision to hold them for up to 30 days as prosecutors seek to send them to trial. Tate appeared to be holding a Koran as his brother waved to reporters outside.
Vidineac Eugen,who is representing the Tate brothers,said before the decision that he would have no comment.
The brothers and two Romanian female associates were arrested last month. In addition to human trafficking,the suspects were charged with forming an organised crime group. One was also charged with rape;authorities have declined to identify that person,citing local laws.
DIICOT said in a statement on December 29 it had identified six people who were recruited and then sexually abused in Ilfov county,which surrounds the capital,Bucharest.
Authorities said that the victims were coerced into participating in pornography for distribution on social media and that one of the suspects twice raped a victim in March. The statement,which did not name the suspects,said the victims faced “acts of physical violence and mental coercion”.
The Tates were legally in the country,Bolla said in an interview on December 30,noting that the investigation started in April after the US Embassy called the Romanian authorities with information that a US citizen was being held involuntarily at a house in Ilfov.