French President Emmanuel Macron has denied having any prior knowledge of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s visit to the country or having any role in the Russian businessman’s arrest upon arrival in Paris.
Durov was detained at Le Bourget airport on Saturday after flying from Azerbaijan. He told police he was on his way to meet Macron for dinner, according to French newspaper Le Canard Enchaine.
“I was absolutely not aware of Mr. Durov’s arrival in France – and this is normal, because I am not supposed to know about the comings and goings of everyone with French nationality,” Macron told reporters at a press conference in Belgrade on Thursday evening.
“It is false that I made any invitation, it is totally false,” added the French president. “I shouldn’t have seen Durov either last weekend or later.”
Macron, who is on a two-day visit to Serbia, insisted that France protects freedom of expression and is committed to entrepreneurs and innovators.
“But we are also a country where there is separation of powers and judges make decisions independently. And that is a good thing,” he said.
Durov spent several days in jail before seeing a magistrate judge on Wednesday. He was charged with a dozen offenses, ranging from refusing to cooperate with authorities to running an online platform allegedly used by organized crime for illegal conduct such as trafficking and child sexual abuse.
Durov was released on €5 million ($5.5 million) bail and banned from leaving France while the case is ongoing.
“It is completely absurd to think that the person responsible for a social network could be involved in criminal acts that do not concern him, either directly or indirectly,” its lawyer, David-Olivier Kaminski, told AFP on Wednesday. Telegram fully complies with EU laws on digital technology, Kaminski added.
Durov’s detention sparked international outrage and accusations that France was trying to force a platform outside of Western control to censor. French President supposedly invited Durov moved Telegram to France in 2018, three years before it was granted citizenship.
Durov also holds citizenship of France, the United Arab Emirates and the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis. Both Moscow and Abu Dhabi have attempted to provide consular support, only to be rebuffed by Paris, claiming that his French citizenship trumps all others.
Brothers Pavel and Nikolay Durov created Telegram a decade ago as a privacy-focused encrypted messenger. The platform now has nearly a billion monthly users and is seen as the app of choice in Russia and Ukraine, among other countries.