After four days in police custody, Telegram founder Pavel Durov was indicted by two investigating judges and released under judicial supervision. The founder of the encrypted messaging service is accused of a series of offences relating to organised crime.
CEO of the encrypted messaging service Telegram, Pavel Durov was indicted this Wednesday by two investigating judges after four days in police custody for a series of offences relating to organised crime, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau announced in a press release. Released, the Franco-Russian billionaire must nevertheless comply with a heavy judicial control which requires him, among other things, to report twice a week to the police station, to respect the ban on leaving the country, as well as to pay a bail of 5 million euros.
The 39-year-old businessman, who celebrated the 11th anniversary of his messaging service on August 14, was arrested last Saturday evening at Le Bourget airport before being taken into custody. In the sights of the French justice system for several months, it criticizes the encrypted messaging platform for its almost total lack of cooperation in matters of judicial requisitions, unlike other competing platforms X (formerly Twitter) and Meta, which have long since set up communication channels with the authorities.
A preliminary investigation launched at the beginning of the year
At the beginning of the year, a preliminary investigation was launched by the J3 section of the Paris prosecutor’s office dedicated to cybercrime and entrusted to the juvenile office (Ofmin) of the judicial police before the anti-crime office and the national anti-fraud office (Onaf) attached to customs took over, reports Release. Subsequently, a search warrant was issued in March against Pavel Durov, as well as his brother Nikolai, who is none other than the co-founder of Telegram. In the hands of the investigating judges since July 8, the latter had opened a judicial investigation against X, the investigations being entrusted to the ONAF and the Center for the Fight against Digital Crime (C3N) of the gendarmerie.
Two days after Pavel Durov’s arrest, Emmanuel Macron, on his X account, tweeted to refute any “political decision” in the latter’s arrest. For its part, Telegram assured that it complied with current European regulations, particularly the Digital Services Act (DSA), explaining that its founder “has nothing to hide”. The announcement of Pavel Durov’s arrest also sparked a wave of indignation on social media. #FreeDurov hashtags emerged, and paper planes, the symbol representing the company, were placed in front of the French embassy in Moscow. Russia itself warned France against “any attempt at intimidation”.