Andrew Tate freed from house arrest before trafficking trial

Social media personality and divisive influencer Andrew Tate won an appeal in a Romanian court to be released from house arrest on Friday.

The Bucharest Court of Appeals said in a written ruling that it "replaces the house arrest measure with that of judicial control for a period of 60 days from August 4 until October 2."

The 36-year-old man, known for his misogynistic views, was indicted in June on charges of trafficking, rape, and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.

The timing of the trial is not clear yet. Tate was indicted along with his brother Tristan and two Romanian women in the same case.

All four were initially arrested near Romania’s capital in late December, and have denied the allegations against them.

Tate says released from house arrest after 'indictment based on nothing'

Tate took to the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, to say that he had been freed from house arrest.

He added in his post that he spent 10 months in detention amid an "indictment based on nothing."

Tate has over 7 million followers on social media and has been accused of peddling conspiracy theories online.

He has repeatedly claimed that Romanian prosecutors have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy designed to silence his views.

Who is Andrew Tate?

A British-American citizen, Tate shot to fame after appearing on the British TV reality show "Big Brother" in 2016 but was removed after footage surfaced that showed him attacking a woman.

Tate, a self-described misogynist, then turned his attention to social media platforms, amassing millions of followers.  

He has been banned from prominent platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Tik Tok for hateful comments, including that women should bear responsibility when they are sexually assaulted.

A former competitive kickboxer, Tate has reportedly lived in Romania since 2017.

rm/sms (Reuters, AP)