By Ingrid Melander and Guy Faulconbridge
PARIS/MOSCOW (Reuters) -Pavel Durov, the Russian-born billionaire creator and owner of the Telegram messaging app, was detained at Le Bourget airport outside Paris soon after landing on a personal jet late on Saturday and put in custody, 3 sources informed Reuters.
The arrest of the 39-year-old innovation billionaire triggered on Sunday a caution from Moscow to Paris that he must be accorded his rights and criticism from X owner Elon Musk who stated that complimentary speech in Europe was under attack.
There was no main verification from France of the arrest, however 2 French authorities sources and one Russian source who spoke on condition of privacy stated that Durov was apprehended soon after coming to Le Bourget airport on a personal jet from Azerbaijan.
Among the 2 French authorities sources stated that ahead of the jet's arrival, cops had actually found he was on the traveler list and relocated to apprehend him due to the fact that he was the topic of an arrest warrant in France.
“Telegram abides by EU laws, consisting of the Digital Services Act– its small amounts is within market requirements and continuously enhancing,” Telegram stated in a declaration on the arrest.
“Telegram's CEO Pavel Durov has absolutely nothing to conceal and takes a trip often in Europe,” it stated. “It is ridiculous to declare that a platform or its owner are accountable for abuse of that platform.”
Durov, who has double French and United Arab Emirates citizenship, was apprehended as part of an initial cops examination into apparently enabling a large range of criminal offenses due to an absence of mediators on Telegram and an absence of cooperation with cops, a 3rd French cops source stated.
A cybersecurity gendarmerie system and France's nationwide anti-fraud cops system are leading the examination, that source stated, including that the investigative judge was specialised in organised criminal offense.
“We're waiting for a timely resolution of this scenario. Telegram is with you all,” Telegram stated.
The French Interior Ministry, authorities and Paris district attorney's workplace had no remark.
Russian legislator Maria Butina, who invested 15 months in U.S. jail for serving as an unregistered Russian representative, stated Durov “is a political detainee – a victim of a witch-hunt by the West.” Durov's arrest led news in Russia.
Telegram, based in Dubai, was established by Durov, who left Russia in 2014 after he declined to adhere to needs to close down opposition neighborhoods on his VK social networks platform, which he has actually offered.
The encrypted application, with near 1 billion users, is especially prominent in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the previous Soviet Union. It is ranked as one of the significant social networks platforms after Facebook (NASDAQ:-RRB-, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat.
TELEGRAM'S ORIGIN AND INFLUENCE
Durov, who is approximated by Forbes to have a fortune of $15.5 billion, stated in April some federal governments had actually looked for to press him,
