The Telegram CEO was detained in France as part of a probe into his alleged complicity in criminal activities on the platform
The arrest of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov in France aligns with a broader policy of using maximum pressure to control alternative media platforms, according to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
He made the remarks on Monday during his address at the 11th summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA). Maduro noted that the ALBA meeting was being broadcast on the Telegram platform.
This is “despite the fact that their president [Telegram CEO Pavel Durov] was taken into custody as part of this policy of persecution, maximum pressure, blackmail, arm-twisting of alternative social and communication networks,” Maduro stated, adding that “power is abused across the world. They persecute in order to subjugate.”
Durov was arrested at Paris-Le Bourget Airport on Saturday immediately after arriving from Azerbaijan by private jet. The Russian entrepreneur is also a citizen of France, the UAE, and St. Kitts and Nevis.
The French judicial authorities have twice extended Durov’s detention. The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office has stated that he was arrested as part of a broad criminal inquiry in relation to an unnamed person.
French President Emmanuel Macron has denied that there was any political motive behind Durov’s arrest, stating on Monday that it had taken place as part of “an ongoing judicial investigation.”
Durov has previously stated that his commitment to user privacy has made him a target for intelligence agencies. In an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson earlier this year, Durov said he had rejected requests from Washington to share user data with US authorities or build so-called surveillance “backdoors” into the platform.
