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Tate, his brother Tristan and two Romanian female suspects have
been in police custody since Dec. 29 pending an ongoing criminal
investigation on charges of forming a criminal gang to sexually
exploit women. They have denied the accusations.
In January, their detention was extended until Feb. 27, a
decision which they appealed.
"You know I'm innocent," Tate told reporters as he was taken
inside the courtroom. Asked whether he was hoping to be released
on Wednesday, he said, "There is not much justice in Romania."
Prosecutors have said the Tate brothers recruited their victims
by seducing them and falsely claiming to want a relationship or
marriage.
The victims were then taken to properties on the outskirts of
the capital, Bucharest, and coerced to produce pornographic
content for social media sites that generated large financial
gain, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors can ask the courts to extend the suspects' detention
for up to 180 days.
The Tates have repeatedly said prosecutors did not have real
evidence against them. Their defence lawyers have asked the
judge to consider placing the suspects under house arrest rather
than police detention, court documents showed.
In an earlier ruling, a court said the detention period had been
extended to prevent the suspects from allegedly resuming illicit
activities.
Andrew Tate gained mainstream notoriety for misogynistic remarks
that got him banned from all major social media platforms,
although his Twitter account was reinstated in November after
Elon Musk acquired the social media giant.
(Reporting by Luiza Ilie and Octav Ganea; Editing by Ben
Dangerfield)
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