Social media personality, Andrew Tate has complained about prison conditions in a letter he wrote in his cell at a Romanian jail.
The former professional kickboxer is being detained in a Romanian jail until February 27, following his arrest in December. He faces sex trafficking and abuse charges.
However, on Tuesday, January 24, he shed light on his first 27 days in detention.
The 36-year-old Youtuber sent a sober story to followers of his website, titled: “My first email from imprisonment”. It read;
“They are trying to break me.
“Thrown inside a cell without light.
“Cockroaches, lice, and bed bugs are my only friends at night.
“When the guards bring me to and from the courtroom, I stay absolutely respectful.
“They try to pour hatred into my heart.”
His cries follow a court ruling last week that extended his detention until February 27 as investigations continue.
Tate and his brother were arrested in December after their luxury Romanian mansion was raided by police.
The pair have reportedly been under investigation for the alleged kidnapping of two young women at their villa in the town of Voluntari.
According to a statement from Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), the British-born suspects lured victims using the “loverboy method”.
The men claimed they loved the women and intended to marry them, it is alleged.
DIICOT said the female victims were then taken to buildings in Ilfov County, on Bucharest’s outskirts, where they were “sexually exploited by group members”.
The jail Tate is being held at has not been named but previous reports have laid bare the dire living conditions for prisoners in the country.
A report by the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment slammed jails in the country.
The damning report also found most prisoners stay locked up for 23 hours a day in their squalid cells.
Under Romanian laws, prisoners are allowed just one hour a day of “outdoor recreation”, which they can use to exercise or read.
The report read: “Material conditions in all the prisons visited were generally poor, with cells dilapidated, lacking equipment (storage space, tables and chairs), and mattresses and bedding worn out and infested with bed bugs and cockroaches.”
