President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday defended a decision to grant French nationality to Telegram chief Pavel Durov, who faces a possible trial related to illegal content carried on his popular messaging app.
Speaking to reporters on a visit to Serbia, the French president said he did not know that Durov would be coming to France and denied having issued “any invitation whatsoever” to the Russian-born billionaire.
“We are a country where there is a separation of powers,” Macron said.
“I was completely unaware that he was coming. This is normal,” he added.
Macron said he “totally” backed the decision to grant Durov citizenship, adding it was a “strategy” concerning those who “make the effort to learn the French language” and who “shine in the world”.
Durov, 39, was sensationally detained at Le Bourget airport outside Paris at the weekend and on Wednesday evening charged with a litany of violations related to the messaging app. He was also banned from leaving the country.
Numerous questions have been raised about the timing and circumstances of Durov’s detention, with supporters seeing him as a freedom of speech champion and detractors as a menace who wilfully allowed Telegram to get out of control.
According to a source close to the investigation, Durov had emphasized his links to the French head of state during questioning.
Le Monde newspaper reported on Wednesday that Durov had met Macron on several occasions prior to receiving French nationality in 2021, via a special procedure reserved for those deemed to have made a special contribution to France.
Durov’s lawyer David-Olivier Kaminski said it was “absurd” to suggest Durov could be implicated in any crime 스포츠 committed on the app, adding: “Telegram complies in all respects with European rules concerning digital technology.”
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned France against turning the case into “political persecution”, emphasizing he is a “Russian citizen” and “we will be watching what happens next.” Among those also voicing support for Durov is fellow tech tycoon and chief executive of X, Elon Musk, who has posted comments under the hashtag #FreePavel.
After the charges, Musk posted a meme on X of a surveillance camera attached to buildings inscribed with France’s motto, “liberty, equality, fraternity.”