In France, an arrest warrant was issued for Mykola Durov, the brother of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, who is also a co-founder of the messenger.
Points of attention
- France is looking for Mykola Durov, the brother of Telegram's co-founder, on charges of complicity in crimes related to pornography and drugs.
- Arrest warrants for Pavel and Mykola Durov were issued in March this year due to Telegram's refusal to cooperate with French police in child sexual abuse cases.
- According to the investigation, Telegram is used by "numerous criminal groups", but there is still no direct evidence of the involvement of the Durov brothers in crimes.
- Pavel Durov was detained at the Paris airport and a list of charges was subsequently announced.
France has issued an arrest warrant for Mykola Durov
As the publication notes, the investigation into Telegram in France began a few months ago due to the refusal of the messenger to cooperate with the French police in cases of sexual abuse of children.
Arrest warrants for Pavel and Mykola Durov were issued on March 25 on charges including "participating in the possession, distribution, offering or provision of pornographic images of minors as part of an organized group."
The document states that the platform is used by "numerous criminal groups", but there is no evidence of direct involvement of the Durov brothers in crimes.
Mykola Durov's whereabouts are currently unknown.
What is known about the case of Pavlo Durov
On August 25, French media reported the arrest of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov at the Paris airport after he flew there from Azerbaijan on a private plane.
The French Prosecutor's Office announced the list of charges against Pavlo Durov:
Complicity in the administration of an online platform for the purpose of conducting illegal transactions by an organized group.
Refusal to provide, at the request of authorized bodies, information or documents necessary for the implementation and use of wiretapping permitted by law.
Complicity in possession of images of minor children of a pornographic nature.
Complicity in the distribution by an organized criminal group of images of minor children of a pornographic nature.
Complicity in the acquisition, transportation, possession or transfer of drugs.
Participating in the offer, transfer or provision without good reason of equipment, tool, program or data designed to attack automated data processing systems.
Complicity in organized gang fraud.
Provision of cryptological services aimed at providing privacy functions without corresponding declaration.
Providing cryptology tools that do not solely provide authentication or integrity control functions without notice.
