Judge indicts Telegram founder Durov and releases him on bail of 5 million

Telegram CEO, Pavel Durovwas released on Wednesday after being brought before a court in Paris, charged with 12 counts for not taking action to prevent the use of its social network Telegram for criminal purposes. According to reports ReutersDurov has been charged and the investigation against him will continue. He will also have to pay a bail of five million euros and will be prohibited from leaving France.

The Russian-French billionaire was arrested last Friday evening at Le Bourget airport, on the outskirts of Paris. The prosecutor’s office said in a statement that Durov was being investigated on twelve chargesincluding complicity in possession of child pornography or drug trafficking, in the context of a judicial investigation opened on July 8, 2024.

After taking his statement in the French capital, the investigating judges ordered his indictment on all the charges brought against him. “He has been placed under judicial surveillance, with the obligation to deposit a bail of 5 million euros, report to the police twice a week and the ban on leaving French territory,” Laure Beccuau, the highest authority of the French Public Prosecutor’s Office, said in a statement.

The list of crimes attributed to him includes complicity in the administration of an online platform for allowing illicit transactions by organized gangscomplicity in fraud and trafficking. Added to this, among other charges, is the alleged responsibility of the Russian-born billionaire for the dissemination of child sexual abuse material on Telegram.

He is also accused of not cooperating with justice offering data and information about possible criminal actions and charges related to the operation and encryption of the messaging platform.

The French prosecutor’s office said Telegram, created in 2013, has been involved in multiple cases involving various offences (such as child pornography, online hate and drug trafficking) and that the company offered an “almost total lack of response” to judicial requests.

The investigation that led to Durov’s arrest was launched on a preliminary basis in February 2024 and involved several French agencies that fight cybercrime, organised crime and fraud.

“Other French investigative services and prosecutors’ offices, as well as several Eurojust partners, particularly Belgian ones, shared the same observation,” the French prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Durov resides in Dubai, where Telegram is headquartered. Following the arrest of its founder and CEO on Saturday, Telegram issued a statement saying that The platform “complies with EU laws”including the Digital Services Act” and that “its moderation is within industry standards and is constantly improving.”

“Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and frequently travels around Europe. It is absurd that a platform or its owner should be held responsible for abuses on their platform,” the statement added.

In addition to the charges in this case, this Wednesday it also came to light that he is being investigated for alleged mistreatment committed against one of his children in Paris. This investigation was initiated following a complaint filed by Durov’s ex-partner in Switzerland, which is the country where she resides with the victim, born in 2017.