Telegram boss’ lawyer dismisses probe against Durov as absurd
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A participant of a one-person picket demonstrates with a placard to bring attention to the arrest of Pavel Durov, near the French embassy in Moscow, on Aug 25.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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PARIS - A lawyer for Telegram boss Pavel Durov, who is the target of an unprecedented investigation in France, said on Aug 29 that it was “absurd” to suggest the head of a social network was responsible for any criminal acts committed on the platform.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said the arrest of the Russian-born tech boss, which has further strained relations between Paris and Moscow, should not turn into “political persecution”.
A French judge put Durov under formal investigation on Aug 28,
Durov, who spent four days in police custody following his arrest on Aug 24 at an airport near Paris, was granted bail on condition he pays €5 million (S$7.2 million) and does not leave French territory.
Durov will also need to report twice a week to police of the town where he will be staying. He will have to be home at certain specific hours, a judicial source said, without saying where he would live or how many hours a day he would need to be there.
His arrest has fuelled debate on where freedom of speech ends and enforcement of the law begins, and to what extent tech companies should be held responsible for social media content. Telegram is used by close to a billion people.
It’s “absurd to say that a platform or its boss are responsible for any abuse” carried out on the platform, lawyer David-Olivier Kaminski, who is representing Durov in France, said, in comments to reporters carried by several local media outlets.
Being placed under formal investigation in France does not imply guilt or necessarily lead to trial, but indicates judges consider there is enough evidence to proceed with the probe. Investigations can last years before being sent to trial or shelved.
Durov has French, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Russian citizenship, and his arrest and the allegations against him have taken the relationship between France and Russia to a new low, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Aug 27, capping months of deteriorating relations.
“The main thing is that what is happening in France does not turn into political persecution,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Aug 29. “We know that the president of France has denied any connection (of the case) with politics, but on the other hand, certain accusations are being made. We will see what happens next.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, who is known to be an avid user of Telegram, said earlier this week that Durov’s arrest was “in no way a political decision” and that the probe had been decided by the judicial authorities, not by the government.
Mr Macron had lunch with Durov in 2018 as part of a series of meetings with tech entrepreneurs, a source close to the president said, and Durov was granted French citizenship in 2021 under a rare procedure for high-profile individuals.
The UAE is in touch with the French authorities and representatives of Emirati citizen Pavel Durov, a government official said on Aug 29. REUTERS
