France Frees Telegram CEO

But Pavel Durov will appear in court
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 28, 2024 9:30 AM CDT
France Frees Telegram CEO
Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov, center, is seen in Jakarta, Indonesia on Aug. 1, 2017.   (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana, File)

French prosecutors on Wednesday freed Telegram CEO Pavel Durov from police custody after four days of questioning over allegations that the platform is being used for illegal activities, reports the AP. Durov was detained on Saturday at Le Bourget Airport outside of Paris as part of a judicial inquiry opened last month involving 12 alleged criminal violations. "An investigating judge has ended Pavel Durov's police custody and will have him brought to court for a first appearance and a possible indictment," a statement from the Paris prosecutor's office said.

Other allegations against Durov, who is a French citizen, include that his platform is being used for child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking, fraud, and abetting organized crime transactions, and that Telegram refused to share information or documents with investigators when required by law. Durov's police custody order had been extended earlier this week till Wednesday. After that, authorities had to release or charge him. Politico notes that France had also in late March issued a warrant for the arrest of Durov's brother and Telegram co-founder, Nikolai. Those documents cite charges of "complicity in possessing, distributing, offering, or making available pornographic images of minors, in an organized group," as well as "Telegram's almost nonexistent cooperation" in such cases.

(More Telegram stories.)

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