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apnews.com

Masked police officers in Romania carried out fresh raids early Wednesday at the home of divisive internet influencer Andrew Tate, who is awaiting trial on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.

Romania’s anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT, said it was searching four homes in Bucharest and nearby Ilfov county, investigating allegations of human trafficking, the trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, influencing statements and money laundering. The agency added that hearings will later be held at its headquarters.

  • Barbarian@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1151·
    4 months ago

    Fun fact about our legal system: we don’t do jury trials. The evidence and arguments are heard by the judge, who decides both guilty/not guilty and the sentence.

      • TheFriar@lemm.eeEnglish
        824·
        4 months ago

        Well, it could be depending on how robust their anti corruption practices are. Because what really makes more sense, 12 citizens, uneducated in law and its application, getting manipulated by differing levels of millionaire depending on the wealth of the defendant/plaintiff? Or a legal expert weighing the facts to determine their strength?

        Because, both are open to corruption. The jury of your peers is open to corruption in the ways I’m sure most people on lemmy are familiar with, but the other way, with robust anti corruption laws, would arguably be better.

        • Barbarian@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          40·
          4 months ago

          There’s also the fact that appealing a judgement goes to more judges, always different than ones who have seen the case. Basically:

          1st judgement -> 1 judge

          1st appeal -> 2 different judges (must be unanimous)

          2nd appeal -> 3 different judges (must be unanimous)

          This makes corruption less common, as getting 6 different judges to all risk their career for a bribe is unlikely.

          I’m not going to claim this system is perfect. There are issues with the fact that there is no mechanism for preventing enforcement of an unjust law. If it’s on the books and it’s an open-shut case, the law will be applied no matter how unjust it is. The inverse is also true though: you can’t have unjust rulings that ignore laws the other direction, for example jury nullification of the murder of a black person (used to happen all the time in the US).

          Like most things, it’s a tradeoff. Some things are better, some are worse.

        • Duamerthrax@lemmy.worldEnglish
          111·
          4 months ago

          It would be easier and cheaper for an elite to bribe a hand full of judges then it would be to repeatedly bribe different sets of jurors.

          • Barbarian@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            92·
            4 months ago

            Cheaper? Maybe. Easier? No, not really. Ion Popescu from Bumfuck, Nowhere doesn’t have the DNA breathing down his neck, watching for any signs of living outside his means and any unusual bank account activity.

            EDIT: To be clear, I’m not saying corruption doesn’t happen. It does. I’m just saying it’s not automatically much worse than juries.

            • Duamerthrax@lemmy.worldEnglish
              5·
              4 months ago

              We have laws against bribery in the US and it still happens. I’m going to assume that it’s at least as bad in Romania considering Tate explicitly stated the corrupt justice system is why he moved there. His biggest fuck up was saying that out loud and forcing them to make an example out of him.

              • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.worldEnglish
                3·
                4 months ago

                Tate explicitly stated the corrupt justice system is why he moved there

                It remains to be seen whether or not he was correct in that assessment.

                • Duamerthrax@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  3·
                  4 months ago

                  Well, regardless, neither a fair, nor corrupt justice or police force like to be openly called corrupt. Saying that out loud is the smoothest brain thing to do

              • Barbarian@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                3·
                4 months ago

                Like most things law-related, it’s more about enforcement than anything else. Things dramatically improved while our anti-corruption force was under the control of Laura Kovesi. She kicked some serious ass. Now things are treading water a bit, but Romania is not quite the kleptocratic corruptofest it was in the 90s. There’s always improvements to be made ofc.

        • Draces@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          4 months ago

          If only we had laws for the judges that punish people who break the law. Sounds flawless since no one breaks the law

        • Optional@lemmy.worldEnglish
          13·
          4 months ago

          Because what really makes more sense, 12 citizens, uneducated in law and its application, getting manipulated by differing levels of millionaire depending on the wealth of the defendant/plaintiff?

          That doesn’t make a lot of sense, but that’s not what it says in the Owner’s Manual. That’s just how it works out once in awhile. No one’s suggesting the Justice system in the US is magical and flawless. Besides, there aren’t any news articles about juries who get it right and send a guilty person to prison or release an innocent person.

          • TheFriar@lemm.eeEnglish
            6·
            4 months ago

            Yeah, it’s not magical or flawless. Because the relationships between the wealthy prosecutors and the judges and the overburdened courts system lead to almost all poor defendants being threatened into taking a plea deal as opposed to going to trial, regardless of their guilt because a jury trial is expensive as fuck and also brings with it the chance to be put away for way longer. That’s how it works out when it doesn’t work out the way it’s laid out in the owners manual.

            Not to mention cash bail. Or municipal violations literally only affecting those without money to make it disappear. And political judges. And groups like the heritage foundation.

            I’m just saying, I don’t know how Romanian justice really works in practice, but in the US, we have quite the fucking shit system.

      • barsoap@lemm.eeEnglish
        182·
        4 months ago

        You know what’s terrifying? Being judged by people who can’t be nailed to the cross for perversion of justice. That is, jurors.

      • ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.oneEnglish
        2·
        4 months ago

        Many different countries have use different methods for trials. Some countries reserve jury trials for serious criminal offences, some give the accused the option of a bench trial, and some do a mix of judges with juries.

        Jury trial

  • figaro@lemdro.idEnglish
    811·
    4 months ago

    When I think of all the horrible shit that goes on in the world, the thing that keeps me going is that Greta Thunburg is responsible for the Tates getting arrested. Life is wonderful sometimes.

    • ripcord@lemmy.worldEnglish
      71·
      4 months ago

      There’s a lot more good stuff out there. It just doesn’t get articles, clicks, or social media shares.

      You see mostly things that get you outraged all the time largely because everyone is addicted to outrage.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      162·
      4 months ago

      He keeps getting “caught”, put under house arrest, left to his own devices, charges dropped, and then “caught” again.

      Beginning to think they’re not actually going to sentence this guy

      • ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.oneEnglish
        1·
        4 months ago

        According to the BBC, those charges are still ongoing.

        The Tate brothers have previously been charged with human trafficking - and Andrew Tate charged with rape - and are awaiting trial on those charges. They were released from house arrest a year ago and told not to leave Romania.

        They have always strongly denied any wrongdoing and deny the formal charges they face.

        BBC

        According to a timeline put together by Glamour, those charges are still active.

        Tate is out on house arrest while awaiting trial.

    • Cethin@lemmy.zipEnglish
      4·
      4 months ago

      Famous internet people are generally willing to exploit people for their own gain. Not all of them, but particularly the most famous and powerful. The ones who aren’t usually can’t become as large. If you’re willing to exploit people for fame, money, and influence, you probably aren’t going to stop there.

      • Queen HawlSera@lemm.eeEnglish
        2·
        4 months ago

        Yeah, but they can’t just get bimbos with big fake tits who love them for their money and not their character like a normal rich asshole?

        • Cethin@lemmy.zipEnglish
          3·
          4 months ago

          Do you think normal rich assholes aren’t doing this stuff? That’s the whole issue with the Epstein stuff. Basically every rich asshole was involved. It takes a certain type of person to become so rich and powerful. Those people tend to like to have even more power over people, which makes minors the perfect target for them.

          Never trust a rich and/or powerful person to be good; you’ll only be disappointed.

          • nickwitha_k (he/him)@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
            2·
            4 months ago

            Are you meaning to imply that people with a likely pathological obsession for obtaining and exercising power over others might be driven to seek greater and greater levels of power disparity such as leveraging their position, influence, and money to exploit those who, legally, can have ownership over none of those things and are psychologically and developmentally incapable of informed consent?

            If so, all evidence appears to be pointing towards you being correct.