MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/. Pavel Durov, a co-founder of the Telegram messenger, called his arrest a year ago a mistake of the French police.
"Ironically, I was arrested due to the French police’s own mistake: before August 2024, they ignored French and EU laws and hadn’t sent any of their queries to Telegram via the required legal process," he said on Telegram.
Durov said that a year later, the investigation against him failed to reveal any guilt of him, or Telegram.
"Our moderation practices align with industry standards, and Telegram has always responded to every legally binding request from France," he said.
According to Durov, the only result of his arrest is the damage to the image of France as a free country. He also said that a year after his arrest, he is forced to return to France every 14 days, while the date of the appeal has not yet been set.
On August 24 last year, Durov was detained at Le Bourget airport in Paris on a number of charges, including complicity in the administration of a network platform to commit illegal transactions as part of a criminal group. Such an offense, according to the Paris prosecutor's office, can be punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 500,000 euros. By the decision of the investigating judge, the businessman was placed under judicial control with an obligation to pay a bail of 5 million euros. He was also ordered to report to the police station twice a week and was forbidden to leave France.
In mid-June, the French authorities relaxed the conditions of judicial control over Durov, allowing him to leave the republic on July 10.