French President Emmanuel Macron has denied having any advance information of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s go to to the nation or enjoying a task within the Russian entrepreneur’s arrest upon arrival in Paris.
Durov was detained at Le Bourget airport final Saturday after flying in from Azerbaijan. He informed police he was on his option to meet Macron for dinner, in line with the French outlet Le Canard Enchaine.
“I used to be completely not conscious of Mr. Durov’s arrival in France – and that is regular, as a result of I’m not imagined to know concerning the comings and goings of everybody with French nationality,” Macron informed reporters at a press convention in Belgrade on Thursday night.
“It’s false that I had made any invitation, it’s completely false,” the French president added. “I used to be not imagined to see Durov both final weekend or thereafter.”
Macron, who’s on a two-day go to to Serbia, insisted that France protects freedom of expression and is dedicated to entrepreneurs and innovators.
“However we’re additionally a rustic the place there’s a separation of powers and judges make choices independently. And it is a good factor,” he mentioned.
Durov spent a number of days in jail earlier than seeing a Justice of the Peace choose on Wednesday. He has been charged with a dozen offenses, starting from refusal to cooperate with authorities to administering an internet platform allegedly utilized by organized crime for unlawful conduct reminiscent of trafficking and baby sexual abuse.
Durov was launched on bail of €5 million ($5.5 million) and forbidden from leaving France pending the proceedings.
“It’s completely absurd to suppose that the top of a social community might be concerned in legal acts that don’t concern him, both instantly or not directly,” his lawyer, David-Olivier Kaminski, informed AFP on Wednesday. Telegram absolutely complies with EU legal guidelines regarding digital know-how, Kaminski added.
Durov’s detention sparked worldwide outrage and accusations that France was making an attempt to strong-arm a platform exterior the West’s management into censorship. The French president reportedly invited Durov to maneuver Telegram to France in 2018, three years earlier than granting him citizenship.
Durov additionally holds the citizenship of France, the United Arab Emirates, and the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis. Each Moscow and Abu Dhabi have tried to supply consular help, solely to be rebuffed by Paris claiming his French citizenship trumps all others.
Brothers Pavel and Nikolay Durov created Telegram a decade in the past, as a privacy-centric encrypted messenger. The platform now has virtually a billion month-to-month customers and is seen because the app of selection in Russia and Ukraine, amongst different nations.
