Telegram Founder CEO Pavel Durov Arrested at Paris Airport
Moneylife Digital Team 26 August 2024
Pavel Durov, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of messaging service Telegram, is arrested at a Paris airport. According to media reports, Mr Durov, a dual citizen of France and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), was detained at a Paris airport on an arrest warrant alleging his platform has been used for money laundering, drug trafficking and other offences.
 
Terming the arrest of the Telegram founder as an assault on the basic human rights of speech and association, US whistle-blower Edward Snowden, in a post on X,  says he is surprised and deeply saddened that French president Emmanuel Macron has descended to the level of taking hostages as a means for gaining access to private communications. 
 
 
According to a report from Reuters, the arrest of the Telegram CEO prompted a warning from Moscow to Paris that he should be accorded his rights and criticism from X owner Elon Musk, who said that free speech in Europe was under attack.
 
A French police source told the agency that Mr Durov was arrested as part of a preliminary police investigation into allegedly allowing a wide range of crimes due to a lack of moderators on Telegram and a lack of cooperation with police.
 
According to broadcasters LCI and TF1, Mr Durov was taken into custody at Paris-Le Bourget Airport on Saturday evening after his private jet landed at Le Bourget Airport in France from Azerbaijan. Investigators from the National Anti-Fraud Office, attached to the French customs department, notified Mr Durov that he was being placed in police custody, the broadcasters say.
 
If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison. 
 
In 2013, he founded Telegram. Next year, he left Russia after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on his VKontakte social media platform.
Comments
adityag
2 weeks ago
"Democracy under threat"!
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