Telegram founder released on bail and banned from leaving France

Aug. 28 () –

French justice has provisionally released one of the founders of Telegram, Pavel Durov, who has already been formally charged and will be subject to a series of judicial controls that will prevent him, for example, from leaving French territory.

Durov, who has Russian and Emirati nationality, had been in custody since Saturday, when he was arrested after landing in his private plane at an airport outside Paris. He is accused of allowing the commission of various crimes linked to organised crime through the messaging app, one of the most popular in the world.

The Paris prosecutor’s office has charged him with twelve offences, including the dissemination of pornographic images of minors and drug trafficking. French investigators also accuse him of not having cooperated with the authorities in intercepting communications, according to an official statement reported by ‘Le Monde’.

Both the Russian and UAE governments have requested consular access to the accused. French President Emmanuel Macron published a message on Monday to rule out the idea that Durov’s arrest was “a political decision” and to defend the independence of the judiciary.