French President Emmanuel Macron has denied that he knew in advance about the visit to the country of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, as well as his involvement in the arrest of the Russian businessman upon his arrival in Paris.
Durov was detained at Le Bourget airport last Saturday after arriving from Azerbaijan. He told police he was flying to dinner with Macron, the French newspaper Le Canard Enchaine reported.
“I was completely unaware of Mr. Durov’s arrival in France – and that’s okay, because I shouldn’t know about the arrivals and departures of all persons with French citizenship,” Macron told reporters this at a press conference in Belgrade on Thursday evening.
“It is a lie that I made any invitation, it is an absolute lie,” added the French President. “I shouldn't have seen Durov either last weekend or after.”
Macron, who is on a two-day visit to Serbia, stressed that France defends freedom of speech and is committed to entrepreneurs and innovators.
“But we are also a country where there is a separation of powers, and judges make decisions independently. And that is good,” he said.
Durov spent several days in jail before appearing before a magistrate on Wednesday. He faces a dozen charges, ranging from failing to cooperate with authorities to running an online platform allegedly used by organized crime for illegal activities such as human trafficking and child sexual abuse.
Durov was released on bail of 5 million euros (US$5.5 million) and was banned from leaving France until the end of his trial.
“It is absolutely absurd to think that the head of a social network could be involved in criminal acts that do not concern him, either directly or indirectly,” His lawyer David-Olivier Kaminski told AFP on Wednesday that Telegram was fully compliant with EU digital laws, Kaminski added.
Durov's detention has sparked international outrage and accusations that France is trying to force a platform outside Western control into censorship. French President reportedly invited Durov would move Telegram to France in 2018, three years before he was granted citizenship.
Durov also holds citizenship in France, the United Arab Emirates and the Caribbean nation of St Kitts and Nevis. Both Moscow and Abu Dhabi have tried to provide him with consular support, but Paris has rebuffed them, saying his French citizenship trumps all others.
Brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov created Telegram ten years ago as a privacy-focused encrypted messenger. The platform now has nearly a billion monthly users and is considered the app of choice in Russia and Ukraine, among other countries.