Pavel Durov says French investigation was ‘surprising’

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov spoke out publicly for the first time since his arrest.

The CEO, who was arrested in Paris last week, claimed in a Telegram message to his channel that he was interviewed for four days after arriving in France.

“I was told I may be personally responsible for other people’s illegal use of Telegram, because the French authorities didn’t receive responses from Telegram,” Durov said.

He said that prior to the interrogation, he hadn’t received prior warning from the authorities about the inquiries, and neither had Telegram’s official point of contact in the European Union for such requests.

“As a French citizen, I was a frequent guest at the French consulate in Dubai. A while ago, when asked, I personally helped them establish a hotline with Telegram to deal with the threat of terrorism in France,” Durov claimed.

Durov was later indicted in France. He’s since been ordered to stay in France, though he was released from police custody. In the Thursday message, Durov didn’t specify whether he was still in France.

The charges against Durov include complicity in selling and offering narcotic substances and distributing child pornography. The French authorities previously claimed that Durov didn’t aid investigations.

Per last week’s press release from French authorities, an official investigation was opened in early July. An earlier Politico report also claimed that the authorities have sought an arrest warrant for Durov’s brother, Nikolai Durov, as well.

“Sometimes we can’t agree with a country’s regulator on the right balance between privacy and security. In those cases, we are ready to leave that country. We’ve done it many times. When Russia demanded we hand over “encryption keys” to enable surveillance, we refused — and Telegram got banned in Russia,” he further explained.

“When Iran demanded we block channels of peaceful protesters, we refused — and Telegram got banned in Iran. We are prepared to leave markets that aren’t compatible with our principles, because we are not doing this for money. We are driven by the intention to bring good and defend the basic rights of people, particularly in places where these rights are violated,” Durov said.

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