Andrew Tate's Romania house arrest lifted

Tristan (L) and Andrew Tate (C) are still restricted to their home area and the Romanian capital

Controversial influencer Andrew Tate has been freed from house arrest in Romania pending his trial on rape and human trafficking charges.

Andrew and his brother Tristan were arrested in March and charged in June. They deny the charges.

The pair can move freely around the capital, Bucharest, and the surrounding Ilfov district where they live.

They must report to police when ordered to, and inform them of any change of address.

They are also banned from contacting the two Romanian associates accused alongside them, the witnesses, or the alleged victims or their families.

Breaking these rules could lead to them returning to house arrest, or preventative detention.

A judge will check compliance with the conditions for the next 60 days.

"We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the Romanian judicial system for their fair consideration," a spokesperson for the brothers said in a statement after the ruling.

"This positive outcome gives us confidence that more favourable developments are on the horizon."

Tate, a Muslim convert, also tweeted in response to the ruling, condemning charges that were "based on nothing" and which a judge had deemed "weak and circumstantial".

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The brothers were first arrested at their home in December and moved to house arrest three months later.

The indictment says they and two female Romanian associates formed an organised criminal group in 2021 to commit human trafficking in Romania, but also in other countries including the US and the UK.

It names seven alleged victims who it says were recruited by the Tate brothers through false promises of love and marriage.

In 2016, Tate, a British-American former kickboxer, 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 some responsibility" for being sexually assaulted. He has since been reinstated.