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President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that the French government was not involved in the arrest of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov.
“The arrest of Telegram’s president on French territory took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation. This is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to decide,” Macron said.
Durov was detained Saturday night after his private jet arrived in Paris. His arrest took place as part of a probe into a series of charges including complicity in the detaining and sharing of child pornography, complicity in drug trafficking as well as organized crime laundering, the Paris prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The probe was opened “against an unidentified person” and did not specifically target Durov, the prosecutor said. The tech chief currently remains in policy custody.
In a statement, Telegram said that its CEO — a Russian-born French-Emirati citizen — had “nothing to hide” and that the company abided by EU law.
Prominent voices, both in the tech industry and within official Russian circles, were quick to call out Durov’s arrest.
Russian senator Alexei Pushkov called France a “liberal dictatorship” which “does not tolerate individuals who claim freedom” in a Telegram post.
“#FreePavel,” X owner Elon Musk posted on his own platform. Edward Snowden, the Russia-based American whistleblower, accused Macron of having “descended to the level of taking hostages as a means for gaining access to private communications.”
The French president wasn’t having that.
“More than anything else, France is committed to freedom of expression and communication, innovation and entrepreneurship,” Macron said Monday. “In a state governed by the rule of law, on social networks as in real life, freedoms are exercised within a framework established by law to protect citizens and respect their fundamental rights.”
Macron’s comments are the first public statement from a French official following Durov’s arrest. Durov became a French citizen in 2021 by way of a rarely used procedure and under unclear circumstances.
This story is being updated.
