By Anthony Marcus, correspondent for Eurasia Business News, on August 26, 2024. Article n°1190.

Pavel Durov is suspected of 12 serious crimes committed using the Telegram he created. He is charged by a French prosecutor, among other things, with refusing to cooperate with the investigations of the French authorities, which have long been conducted in France against distributors of prohibited content with child, drugs and scammers operating in the messenger.

Arrested at the airport Le Bourget on August 24, at 08:00 PM, the French-Russian businessman himself does not admit guilt, and the French President Emmanuel Macron notes that there is no politics in this investigation.

The Paris prosecutor’s office reported that Pavel Durov is suspected of 12 crimes, including the administration of an online platform for illegal transactions by organized groups; complicity in the possession of child pornography, drug trafficking and fraud, as well as cybercrime.

One of the alleged crimes involves involvement in the transfer of a tool, program, or equipment “to gain access to and disrupt an automated data processing system.”

In addition, the prosecutor’s office believes that the defendant refused to cooperate with law enforcement agencies, including in the form of transferring information or documents necessary for the investigation to them.

Moreover, the French authorities are investigating non-cooperation, conspiracy to commit a crime and money laundering. Law enforcement officers are also interested in the use of cryptocurrency on the platform.

This investigation and arrest come as part of a judicial investigation opened on July 8, 2024, following a preliminary investigation on the initiative of section J3 (fight against cybercrime – JUNALCO) of the Paris prosecutor’s office, according to a press release.

According to some reports, the creator of Telegram is now being held in the pre-trial detention cell of the National Anti-Fraud Police Office (Office national anti-fraude – ONAF) in Ivry-sur-Seine, on the outskirts of Paris.

Of the listed articles under investigation, the maximum punishment (10 years in prison and a fine of 7.5 million euros) is provided for drug trafficking. For many articles, the punishment is 5 years in prison and fines from 30,000 to 150,000 euros, for three articles – up to 10 years in prison with fines from 500 to 7.5 million euros (fraud committed by an organized group and the administration of an online platform on which the illegal circulation of products, content or services is allowed). According to the French Criminal Code, an accomplice can be assigned the same punishment as the main perpetrator of the crime. Durov himself has not yet been officially charged.

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The Parisian lawyer Frederic Bello, who defended the Russian citizen Alexander Vinnik in 2020-2022, but has nothing to do with the case of Mr. Durov, told Kommersant that if the founder of Telegram is not released after the expiration of his term of detention, events may develop in several ways.

According to one of them, the police will hand Pavel Durov over to the investigating judge, who, if there is serious and convincing evidence, will formally charge him. Pavel Durov is a French citizen since August 2021, so he has no way to escape the French jurisdiction over the alleged offences committed on the Telegram platform.

Arrest can be chosen when there is a risk of escape of the defendant. Interestingly, if there is a suspicion of especially serious crimes (drug trafficking, terrorism), pre-trial arrest can be extended to 120 or 144 hours.

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“The director of Telegram was detained as part of an ongoing judicial investigation,” French President Emmanuel Macron said, apparently meaning that this case is not a personal case agaisnt Mr. Pavel Durov, but a large investigation of various crimes committed by users of the Telegram messenger.

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“This is by no means a political decision. The decision rests with the judges,” said the French President.

Pavel Durov’s net worth is currently estimated at $15.5 billion as of August 2024. This makes him the 150th wealthiest person in the world.

Despite the French president’s statements, the arrest of Pavel Durov by French police on August 25, as he got off his private jet at Le Bourget airport, is damaging France’s reputation for freedom of expression on the Internet. Many now see the homeland of Voltaire and the Enlightenment as a jurisdiction that preemptively censors social media and the Internet. Is the next step the arrest of Elon Musk when he sets foot in Europe, for alleged offenses committed on the social network X?

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© Copyright 2024 – Eurasia Business News. Article no. 1190.