Pavel Durov, the mastermind behind Telegram, is now out on supervised release in France. On August 24, authorities pulled him in because of heavy allegations involving child sexual abuse material, drug trafficking, fraud, and organized crime tied to his platform.
French law allowed them to keep Pavel in custody for up to 96 hours. The clock ran out on August 28, and that’s when the prosecutors had to make a decision: either charge him or let him go. They went with the middle ground, putting him under supervised release while they keep digging into the case.
Last month, they kicked off a judicial inquiry targeting Telegram, and things quickly got serious. The investigation uncovered twelve potential criminal offenses linked directly to the platform. And who’s in the hot seat for this? Pavel, of course.
During his time in custody, Pavel was grilled over his alleged negligence when it comes to cyber and financial crimes happening on Telegram. The Paris Prosecutor’s Office made it clear that this isn’t just going to blow over. They’re planning to drag Pavel into court for questioning.
Depending on how that goes, we could be looking at formal charges soon. As of now, they haven’t locked in a date for that court appearance.
The moment Pavel’s arrest hit the news, Russia started making noise. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quick to cry foul, claiming this is nothing more than a politically motivated attack.
Russia sees this as yet another example of Western double standards, especially when it comes to freedom of expression. They’re not happy, to say the least.
But on the other side, French President Emmanuel Macron is standing firm, saying Pavel’s arrest is purely a legal matter and has nothing to do with politics. According to Macron, no one is above France’s laws.
