Telegram founder Pavel Durov stated on his channel in the messenger that his arrest last year in France was a mistake.
The businessman called the French police measures "legal and logical absurdity.", News.Az informs.
He said he was detained for four days in 2024 because people he had never heard of were using Telegram to coordinate crimes.
"The arrest of the CEO of a major platform for the actions of its users was not only unprecedented, but also legally and logically absurd," Durov wrote in the post.
He added that French law enforcement officials are still trying to find something against him as part of a "criminal investigation." However, the messenger's work meets all industry standards, and its team responds to all requests from the French side.
"Ironically, I was arrested because of a mistake by the French police: until August 2024, they ignored French and EU laws and did not send a single request to Telegram as part of the necessary legal procedure," the platform's founder claims.
Durov said he still had to return to France every two weeks, and the only result of his detention was "enormous damage to France's image as a free country."
On the evening of August 28, 2024, a Paris court charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov on six counts. Among them are refusal to hand over information to the special services, complicity in the possession of pornography, including with minors, complicity in the acquisition, transportation, storage, and sale of drugs. Durov was placed under judicial supervision with bail of €5 million and an obligation to report to the police twice a week.
