Pavel Durov leaves France with court's permission – media

Tengrinews.kz – Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, has left France and returned to Dubai after receiving approval from a French court.

According to media reports, Durov was allowed to leave France 'for several weeks'.

In February, reports suggested that Durov was effectively 'stuck' in France and that his case would not be heard in court for at least a year. The French prosecutor’s office had issued a warrant for Durov’s arrest, citing stalled investigations across multiple departments due to Telegram’s lack of cooperation with law enforcement agencies.

Prosecutors argued that Durov’s refusal to respond to official requests amounted to 'complicity'/ According to Libération, French authorities recorded 2,460 unanswered legal inquiries sent to Telegram between 2013 and 2024.

Durov was detained by French intelligence officers at Le Bourget airport near Paris in August 2024. He faced multiple charges related to Telegram’s alleged failure to curb extremist and illegal content on the platform.

On August 28, Durov was released on €5 million bail and was barred from leaving France. He was also required to check in with police twice a week.

Later, it was reported that Durov had agreed to cooperate with law enforcement, sharing data that could help identify certain Telegram users. His brother, Nikolai Durov, was also reportedly pressured to travel to France to provide testimony.

In December 2024, Pavel Durov was formally questioned in court as part of an ongoing investigation into Telegram’s content moderation practices.