Prosecutors from Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) have sent the controversial British influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate to trial, accusing them of human trafficking and rape, according to a DIICOT press statement. 

The two are accused of forming an organised criminal group, continuous trafficking of persons, continuous rape, illegal access to computer systems, alteration of computer data integrity and incitement to assault or other violence.

The defendants’ lawyers said that they seek to exonerate the two, based on evidence they collected, and called on the media to demonstrate moderation. 

According to a DIICOT, at the beginning of 2021, the two, along with two other defendants, allegedly formed an organised criminal group with the intention of committing human trafficking on the territory of Romania, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Prosecutors said seven victims were recruited through deception and told that the defendants wanted to marry them.

They were later transported and housed in properties in Ilfov County, where, through acts of physical violence and psychological coercion, they were sexually exploited by members of the group.

They were forced to engage in pornographic acts for the purpose of production and distribution through social media platforms. The victims were therefore subjected to forced labour while the defendants profited.

Out of the seven victims who were sexually exploited by the organised criminal group, three have joined the criminal proceedings as civil parties, according to Biziday. The Tate brothers are currently under house arrest after three months of pretrial detention.