The arrest of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov in France was “in no way a political decision”, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement on Monday.
Durov’s arrest “took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation,” Macron wrote on X, saying that it was “up to the judges to rule on the matter,” and stressing that France was “deeply committed to freedom of expression and communication, to innovation, and to the spirit of entrepreneurship”.
The French Prosecutor General’s Office issued a press release on Monday confirming that Durov would remain in police custody until 28 August and that he was being questioned by investigators in connection to 12 offences, including running an online platform facilitating illegal transactions to organised crime groups, the possession and distribution of pornographic images of minors, drug trafficking, fraud, and offering encryption services to users without the necessary documentation.
Durov was arrested on Saturday evening upon arrival at Le Bourget Airport in Paris after flying to the French capital from Azerbaijan. While the French Prosecutor General’s Office has not yet given an official reason for Durov’s arrest, a French police spokesperson told Reuters on Monday that Durov was “under investigation by the national cyber crime and fraud offices for failing to cooperate over cyber and financial crimes”.
Dubbed “Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg” by some, Durov is estimated to be worth €13.9 billion by Forbes, having founded the Telegram messaging app, which now has close to 1 billion users, in 2013. He has been based in Dubai since 2017.
Durov’s arrest took many by surprise, with both pro-Kremlin and opposition voices in Russia, as well as free speech advocates expressing their support for Durov over the past two days.
Telegram issued a statement on Sunday saying that Durov had “nothing to hide”, adding that it was “absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform”.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied claims earlier on Monday that Durov was supposed to meet with Vladimir Putin last week while they were both in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku, and declined to comment on Durov’s arrest “without knowing exactly what they are trying to incriminate Durov with”.