Telegram’s Russian-born founder Pavel Durov can’t leave France. He’s under a heavy judicial control and has to post a €5 million bail.Telegram’s Russian-born founder Pavel Durov can’t leave France. He’s under a heavy judicial control and has to post a €5 million bail.
This just in: French prosecutors have charged Telegram’s Russian-born founder Pavel Durov with a wide range of crimes and banned him from leaving the country. He’s now placed under a heavy judicial control with twice-a-week police check-ins and has to post a €5 million bail, according to a statement by Paris Public Prosecutor Laure Beccuau.
This development marks a major milestone in what seems to be one of this year’s most important technology news stories that started less than a week ago when French authorities arrested Durov at Le Bourget airport outside Paris. Soon after, the prosecutor’s office released a list of charges, which now have been officially brought against Telegram’s founder.
The said list contains 12 items, mostly related to Durov’s alleged complicity in money laundering, drug trafficking, and distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Additionally, there are charges related to refusal to cooperate with authorities on lawful interception requests and providing unlicensed encryption tools. (That last bit appears to refer to a specific French law that requires certification for any cryptography tool imported into the country.
Over the four days since Durov’s arrest, the backlash has been coming in from all the wrong directions. From Elon Musk and American far-right influencers to Russian government representatives and even Kim Dotcom, many people with less-than-spotless reputation seem to be concerned.
Russia and the UAE had also requested consular access to Durov during his time in custody; there’s no information on whether either of them was granted.
