French authorities issued arrest warrants for Telegram CEO Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai in March, according to a French document cited by Politico.
The document shows that the French secret investigation into Telegram is broader and began months earlier than previously known. The case revolves around Telegram’s refusal to cooperate with a French police investigation into child sexual abuse.
Pavel Durov was arrested on Saturday night by French police at Paris’s Le Bourget airport after border guards alerted judicial authorities that he was arriving on his private jet from Azerbaijan.
His arrest has sparked diplomatic jibes for the French government as well as a global outcry centered on both the debate over free speech and the culpability of social media for the material shared by its users.
🚨 BREAKING: French authorities issued arrest warrants for Telegram CEO Pavel Durov and his co-founder brother Nikolai in March, according to a French administrative document seen exclusively by POLITICO.
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The arrest warrants were issued after Telegram gave “no response” to an earlier court request to identify its user, according to the document, which was shared with Politico by a person directly involved in the case.
The document also highlights “Telegram’s almost non-existent cooperation” with both French and European authorities in other cases.
The accusations
Warrants for Pavel and his brother Nikolai, a co-founder of the platform, were issued on March 25 on charges that include “complicity in the possession, distribution, offering or distribution of pornographic images of minors to an organized group.” French media had previously reported that the investigation was opened in July.
The warrants were issued following an undercover investigation into Telegram led by the Paris prosecutor’s office investigating cybercrimes, which involved a case in which a suspect solicited “material related to child pornography” from underage girls and then threatened publicize it on social media.
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