By Anthony Marcus, correspondent for Eurasia Business News, on August 29, 2024. Article n°1196.

The Paris judicial court has charged Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov with six counts, including refusal to transfer information to the competent authorities. In the offices of the French police, he had previously been questioned on 12 points. After the indictment, the Paris court released the Russian-French businessman under judicial supervision with a bail of € 5 million and an obligation to appear at the police twice a week, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. He is forbidden to leave the territory of France. Pavel Durov left the building of the Paris judicial court in the evening of August 28.

In the investigation into Telegram, Pavel Durov was charged:

  1. Refusal to transmit information or documents to the competent authorities upon request.
  2. In providing cryptography services to ensure confidentiality without certified declaration.
  3. Complicity in the webmastering of an online platform in order to carry out illegal transactions in an organized group.
  4. In complicity in the storage of pornographic materials, including with minors.
  5. In complicity in the purchase, transportation, storage, sale of narcotic substances.
  6. In complicity in organized fraud.

Regarding the charge of complicity “in the webmastering of an online platform in order to carry out illegal transactions”, the press release of the prosecutor’s office notes that the maximum penalty for this crime is 10 years in prison and a fine of € 500 thousand.

The press release also reports that the Telegram administration has almost not responded to requests from the Minor Protection Service (OFMIN) for a long time. “Other French investigative services and prosecutors, as well as various partners of Eurojust, in particular the Belgian ones, have come to the same conclusion,” the press release regarding Telegram’s refusal to cooperate.

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In this regard, the Cybercrime Unit (JUNALCO) in February 2024 launched an investigation into the “possible criminal liability of executives” of Telegram. The judicial investigation based on the materials of JUNALCO began on July 8, 2024. It was entrusted to the Gendarmerie Cybercrime Unit (C3N) and the National Customs Service for Combating Fraud (ONAF).

Pavel Durov was detained on August 24, when his private jet landed at Le Bourget airport near Paris.

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.

The EU authorities are also investigating, who believe that Telegram could underestimate the number of users in the EU in order not to comply with the norms for large IT companies, the Financial Times reports. In its reports, Telegram indicated that the messenger has less than 45 million users in the European Union. 

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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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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. 1196.