PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged Monday that the arrest in France of the CEO of the current messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, wasn’t a political switch but share of an just investigation.
Durov was detained Saturday at Le Bourget airport in a judicial inquiry opened closing month attractive 12 alleged prison violations, the Paris prosecutor’s position of job acknowledged Monday.
It acknowledged in an announcement that the suspected violations encompass complicity in selling child sexual abuse cloth and in drug trafficking, fraud, abetting organized crime transactions and refusing to portion files or paperwork with investigators when required by law.
In France’s first public commentary on the arrest, Macron posted on the social media platform X that his country “is deeply dedicated” to freedom of expression but “freedoms are upheld interior a legitimate framework, each on social media and in exact lifestyles, to provide protection to electorate and respect their classic rights.”
Denouncing what he called unsuitable files, Macron acknowledged the arrest “is in no manner a political resolution. It’s up to the judges to rule on the topic.”
Durov’s detention was extended till Monday night and must also be extended till Wednesday night sooner than authorities must open or payment him, the prosecutor’s position of job acknowledged.
Durov is a citizen of Russia, France, the United Arab Emirates and the Caribbean island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis.
Russian govt officers accumulate expressed outrage at his detention, with some calling it politically motivated and proof of the West’s double accepted on freedom of speech. The outcry has raised eyebrows amongst Kremlin critics because in 2018 Russian authorities themselves tried to dam Telegram but failed, withdrawing the ban in 2020.
Early Tuesday, the International Ministry of the United Arab Emirates acknowledged that it “is carefully following the case” and had asked France to present Durov “along with your entire well-known consular companies in an urgent manner.”
France and the UAE retain a shut defense pressure relationship, with the French operating a naval putrid in Abu Dhabi and Emirati forces the exercise of French-built Leclerc tanks and Rafale fighter jets.
Telegram, which says it has virtually about a billion users worldwide, was founded by Durov and his brother after he himself confronted stress from the Russian authorities.
In 2013, he offered his stake in VKontakte, a favored Russian social networking location which he launched in 2006.
The firm came beneath stress amid Russian govt’s crackdown after mass pro-democracy protests that rocked Moscow at the tip of 2011 and 2012.
Durov acknowledged the authorities demanded that the placement take down on-line communities of Russian opposition activists, and later that it give up private data of users who took share in the 2013 current revolt in Ukraine, which in the extinguish ousted a authentic-Kremlin president.
Durov acknowledged in a fresh interview that he had grew to change into down these requires and left the country.
The demonstrations prompted Russian authorities to clamp down on the digital dwelling, and Telegram and its pro-privacy rhetoric offered a convenient manner for Russians to snort and portion news.
Telegram furthermore remains to be a favored source of experiences in Ukraine, where each media retail outlets and officers exercise it to portion files on the battle, and produce missile and air raid alerts.
In an announcement posted on its platform after his arrest, Telegram acknowledged it abides by EU prison pointers, and its moderation is “interior replace standards and repeatedly bettering.”
“It’s absurd to speak that a platform or its owner are in payment for abuse of that platform,” Telegram’s put up acknowledged. “Virtually a billion users globally exercise Telegram as arrangement of communique and as a source of well-known files. We’re ready for a rapid resolution of this downside. Telegram is with you all.”
A French investigative opt extended Durov’s detention speak on Sunday night, French media reported on Monday. Below French law, Durov can live in custody for questioning for up to four days. After that, judges must deem to either payment him or open him.
The Russian Embassy in Paris acknowledged consular officers were denied acquire admission to to Durov because French authorities ogle his French citizenship as his foremost one. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov acknowledged Monday, “We silent don’t know what exactly Durov is being accused of. … Let’s wait till the prices are offered – in the event that they are offered.’’
Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X who has in the previous called himself a “ free speech absolutist,” posted “#freePavel” in make stronger of Durov following the arrest.
Western governments accumulate in most cases criticized Telegram for an absence of declare moderation, which consultants suppose opens up the messaging platform for probably exercise in money laundering, drug trafficking and the sharing of cloth linked to the sexual exploitation of minors.
In 2022, Germany issued fines of $5 million towards Telegram’s operators for failing to attach a correct manner to reporting unlawful declare or to name an entity in Germany to gain legit communique. Both are required beneath German prison pointers that withhold a watch on astronomical on-line platforms.
Closing yr, Brazil snappy suspended Telegram over its failure to resign data on neo-Nazi exercise linked to a police inquiry into faculty shootings in November.
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Linked Press journalists Barbara Surk in Good, France, and Daria Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed to this document.
