French decide extends police custody for Telegram CEO Pavel Durov

PARIS — A French investigative decide prolonged police custody for the CEO of the favored messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, prosecutors mentioned on Tuesday.

Durov was detained Saturday at Le Bourget airport as a part of a judicial inquiry opened last month involving 12 alleged legal violations. They embody complicity in promoting little one sexual abuse materials and in drug trafficking, fraud, abetting organized crime transactions and refusing to share info or paperwork with investigators when required by regulation.

A press release from the Paris prosecutor’s workplace mentioned Durov’s police custody order was prolonged on Monday night for as much as 48 hours. After that, authorities should launch or cost him, the prosecutor’s workplace mentioned in an earlier assertion.

Durov is a citizen of Russia, France, the United Arab Emirates and the Caribbean island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis.

Russian authorities officers have expressed outrage at his detention, with some calling it politically motivated and proof of the West’s double normal on freedom of speech. The outcry has raised eyebrows amongst Kremlin critics as a result of in 2018, Russian authorities themselves tried to dam Telegram however failed, withdrawing the ban in 2020.

On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned the allegations in opposition to Durov have been “very critical” and emphasised that “they require proof that’s simply as critical” to quash suspicions his arrest was politically motivated.

With out substantial proof, “we’re witnessing a direct try to limit freedom of communication and, one may even say, direct intimidation of the top of a big firm,” Peskov mentioned throughout his common media convention name.

French President Emmanuel Macron mentioned Monday that Durov’s arrest wasn’t a political transfer however a part of an impartial investigation. Macron posted on X that his nation “is deeply dedicated” to freedom of expression however “freedoms are upheld inside a authorized framework, each on social media and in actual life, to guard residents and respect their elementary rights.”

The UAE Overseas Ministry mentioned Tuesday that it was “carefully following the case” and had requested France to supply Durov “with all the required consular companies in an pressing method.”

Peskov mentioned he hoped that Durov “has all the required alternatives for his authorized protection” and added that Moscow stands “prepared to supply all crucial help and assist” to the Telegram CEO as a Russian citizen.

“However the scenario is difficult by the truth that he’s additionally a citizen of France,” Peskov mentioned.

Iran’s supreme chief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, additionally weighed in on Durov’s arrest.

“You noticed that France arrested this poor younger fellow, sure, they’re that strict,” Khamenei mentioned on Tuesday throughout a gathering with members of recent reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian’s Cupboard.

“That’s as a result of he has violated their governance (over the web),” Khamenei mentioned. “Violating the governance is just not acceptable. You rule a rustic, you’ve a accountability … you possibly can’t let anybody violate your governance.”

Telegram is banned in Iran after years of protests difficult the nation’s Shiite theocracy, although the app stays extensively utilized by Iranians.

In Geneva, Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the U.N. human rights workplace, mentioned it was searching for extra details about Durov’s case from French authorities.

“At this stage of the investigation, we simply don’t have sufficient info and it will actually be too early for us to weigh in.”

Telegram, which says it has almost a billion customers worldwide, was based by Durov and his brother after he himself confronted strain from the Russian authorities.

In 2013, he bought his stake in VKontakte, a preferred Russian social networking website which he launched in 2006.

The corporate got here underneath strain in the course of the Russian authorities’s crackdown following mass pro-democracy protests that rocked Moscow on the finish of 2011 and 2012.

Durov had mentioned the authorities demanded that the location take down on-line communities of Russian opposition activists, and later that it hand over private information of customers who took half within the 2013-2014 fashionable rebellion in Ukraine, which ultimately ousted a pro-Kremlin president.

Durov mentioned in a latest interview that he had turned down these calls for and left the nation.

The demonstrations prompted Russian authorities to clamp down on the digital space, and Telegram and its pro-privacy rhetoric supplied a handy means for Russians to speak and share information.

Telegram additionally continues to be a preferred supply of stories in Ukraine, the place each media retailers and officers use it to share info on the battle, and ship missile and air raid alerts.

In an announcement posted on its platform after his arrest, Telegram mentioned it abides by EU legal guidelines, and its moderation is “inside trade requirements and consistently enhancing.”

“It’s absurd to say {that a} platform or its proprietor are liable for abuse of that platform,” Telegram’s put up mentioned. “Nearly a billion customers globally use Telegram as technique of communication and as a supply of important info. We’re awaiting a immediate decision of this example. Telegram is with you all.”

Western governments have usually criticized Telegram for a scarcity of content material moderation, which consultants say opens up the messaging platform for potential use in cash laundering, drug trafficking and the sharing of fabric linked to the sexual exploitation of minors.

In 2022, Germany issued fines of $5 million in opposition to Telegram’s operators for failing to ascertain a lawful solution to reporting unlawful content material or to call an entity in Germany to obtain official communication. Each are required underneath German legal guidelines that regulate giant on-line platforms.