An hour of hearing, then the decision: the multimillionaire Pavel Durov, the owner of Telegram arrested in France, is now on conditional release but has been banned from leaving the country. This was announced by the Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau, specifying that Durov was granted conditional release on a bail of five million euros and in exchange for the obligation to report twice a week to a police station and remain in France.
These are the latest developments in a story that has been enriched with details, mysteries and twists hour after hour: in fact, during the day it emerged that Durov was under investigation in France also for serious violence against one of his children. This shortly before he was granted conditional release. The founder of Telegram was stopped last Saturday at Le Bourget airport in Paris and placed under ‘precautionary detention’, which the investigating judge then decided to put an end to by ordering his transfer to court to answer to the 12 charges that were notified to him for failure to cooperate in the investigations involving the Telegram app in criminal activities such as drug trafficking and the distribution of child pornography.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal revealed that Durov met with French President Emmanuel Macron in 2018 and was asked to move the registered office of his social media to Paris. But he refused. Sources contacted by the American newspaper also said that in 2017, the Telegram boss was at the center of an espionage operation organized by French secret services in collaboration with those of the United Arab Emirates, where the registered office of the app, called ‘Purple Music’, is located.
An initiative born from concerns raised by the use of Telegram by Islamic militants, drug traffickers and cybercriminals. From the information that has emerged so far, Durov – who holds Russian, French and UAE citizenship – would have maintained close relations with Russia and Ukrainian sources have spoken of a recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The first to speak of a case of violence against minors was the website ‘Politicò, which would have viewed judicial documents according to which there was an arrest warrant issued by the French authorities as far back as last March, which would have been issued following an investigation launched into sexual abuse of minors, probably the same investigation that has now come to light based on the revelations gathered by AFP. In particular, it would concern the complaint filed in 2023 by the child’s mother, who now lives with her in Switzerland.
Known for his privacy, Durov, 39, has so far amassed an estimated net worth of over $15 billion and denies accusations made against him for his lack of cooperation with investigators in inquiries launched to uncover those responsible for criminal activities conducted in part through Telegram.
After the investigating judge decided to end his pre-trial detention, during which Durov remained in custody at the National Anti-Fraud Office, the man was taken to court to answer the magistrate’s questions in order to establish whether to keep him on trial and validate the arrest or to release him and under what conditions. Then the decision for conditional release, which allows him not to be transferred to a cell but at the same time does not unravel the knots of the mysterious affair.
The arrest of the founder of the app that currently has 900 million users has prompted many to take a stand in his favor, including those of X’s owner Elon Musk and several Russian authorities. They have accused France of having set up a political case and of wanting to carry out an operation of censorship with respect to freedom of information, all criticisms rejected by the French authorities, starting with President Macron.