Kumar Bahukhandi
PARIS: Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of encrypted messaging service Telegram, was released after posting a bail of five million euros (about $5.6 million) but will have to appear before police twice a week, Paris public prosecutor Laure Bequau said.
Durov is officially being investigated on six charges and is banned from leaving France during the investigation, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday night. Durov was arrested by French police at an airport outside Paris on Saturday night. Bequau said on Monday August 26 that the Telegram founder is charged with 12 criminal offences, including failing to take action against Telegram users involved in cyberbullying, sharing paedophile material and glorifying terrorism. He said the arrest took place “in the context of a judicial investigation launched on July 8, 2024”. The Paris prosecutor said it also relates to “refusal to communicate, at the request of the competent authorities, information or documents necessary to carry out and conduct interceptions permitted by law”.
In response to the arrest, the Telegram group said on its X account that the company “complies with European Union (EU) laws, including the Digital Services Act”. It added that “it is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the misuse of that platform”. French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that Durov’s arrest was “in no way a political decision”. Durov’s arrest in France “took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation”,
Macron said on social media platform X. Following the arrest, Russia’s embassy in Paris has sent a note to the French Foreign Ministry demanding consular access to Durov, TASS news agency quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying. Meanwhile, Elon Musk, the owner of US social media platform X, and former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden on Sunday condemned Durov’s arrest.
