WASHINGTON, Aug 27 – French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday the arrest over the weekend of tech giant Telegram’s top official was not a political decision by his government as a broad investigation swirls over the the popular messaging app’s use and questions over his arrest days ago.
“The arrest of the Telegram president on French territory took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation,” Macron wrote Monday morning local time in a translated post on X, United Press International (UPI) reported.
“This is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to decide.”
Telegram’s 39-year-old billionaire chief executive Pavel Durov was arrested by French police Saturday night after his private jet landed just north of Paris at Le Bourget Airport as part of an open probe that began July 8 into allegations over Telegram’s complicity in things such as the sharing of child pornography, drug trafficking and organised crime.
Durov is accused of failing to take steps to curb criminal uses of Telegram. But prosecutors in Paris say the investigation was opened “against an unidentified person” and not specifically Durov, who holds dual French citizenship and remains in custody.
In a statement, Telegram officials told POLITICO that Durov had “nothing to hide” as the tech company claimed that it has abided by European law.
Durov – who was born in Russia, lives in Dubai and holds dual citizenship in France and the United Arab Emirates – has allegedly failed to cooperate with law enforcement officials as they contend he, likewise, has failed to moderate Telegram’s content.
