Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate are under house arrest

The controversial social media influencer, Andrew Tate, and his brother Tristan were transferred from custody to house arrest after a ruling by a Romanian judge.

 The decision of the Bucharest Court of Appeal replaces the last period of detention, which was scheduled to end on April 29.

  Two of their assistants, Georgiana Nagel and Luana Radu, were also released.

 The four were ordered to stay in the building where they were living unless authorized to do so by the court.

    A spokesman for the Tate brothers told the BBC they were "active".

    After his release, Andrew posted a video of himself smoking a cigar in his room, saying: "I've been in quarantine for 24 hours since last year and haven't had time to go out to the park.

"The situation is in a 3-meter cell without electronics or external links. A completely clear mind. Real ideas. Real plans. Very painful. I can't stand a phone call when I come home for an hour."

    "Some habits persist. We must defeat the devil."

    Meanwhile, Tristan tweeted:

    The brothers have been detained since December.  They are being investigated for rape, human trafficking, and the formation of an organized criminal gang.  Both have denied any wrongdoing.

    Lawyers for the titts family argued that keeping them in protective custody was unnecessarily harsh when other judicial options, such as house arrest, were available.

    Leaked court documents seen by the BBC outlined the testimony of a victim whose claims she was forced to earn 10,000 euros (8,800 pounds sterling) a month on social media platforms under allegations of physical violence.

    The court documents also described the use of religion as a "kind of psychological coercion".  Since the investigation began in April last year, prosecutors have identified six women as victims.

    Tate threatens workers with violence and demands victims

    However, neither the brother nor the arrested Romanian accomplices were charged.

    In 2016, Andrew Tate, a former British-American kickboxer, was removed from the British TV show Big Brother because of a video in which he appears attacking a woman.

    He continued to earn his notoriety on the internet, where he was banned by Twitter for saying that women "should take some responsibility" for being sexually assaulted.

    Despite his ban on social media, he has gained particular fame among young people by proposing a very masculine and very extravagant lifestyle.