Press release
On August 28, 2024, Pavel Durov was charged with all crimes specified in the indictment: 
Complicity in the administration of an online platform for the purpose of carrying out an illegal transaction organized by a group (an offense punishable by a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of €500,000)
Refusal to provide, upon request of authorized authorities, information or documents necessary for the implementation and use of interceptions authorized by law
complicity in crimes, in particular in providing a program or data intended to hack an automated data processing system, distribution by an organized group of images of minors that are in the nature of child pornography, drug trafficking, fraud as part of an organized group, criminal community for the purpose of committing crimes or offenses
Laundering of crimes or offenses by an organized crime group
Providing cryptology services aimed at providing confidentiality functions without
Statements of Conformity provision and import of cryptology tools that do not serve solely authentication or integrity checking functions.
He was placed under judicial supervision, inter alia, with a requirement to pay a bail of 5 million euros, an obligation to report to a police station twice a week and a ban on leaving French territory.
Telegram is an instant messaging application created in 2013 and appears in several dossiers relating to various offenses (pedocriminality, human trafficking, online hatred). Almost complete absence
Telegram’s response to judicial requests was brought to the attention of the Cybercrime Unit (J3) of JUNALCO (national jurisdiction for combating organized crime under the Public Prosecutor’s Office
Paris), in particular OFMIN (National Office for Minors). Consulted with others
French investigative services and prosecutors’ offices, as well as various partners within Eurojust, in particular the Belgian ones, shared the same opinion. This is what prompted JUNALCO to begin an investigation into the possible criminal liability of the leaders of this messenger for committing these crimes.
The preliminary investigation began in February 2024 under the direction of the Paris prosecutor’s office, and the initial investigations were coordinated by OFMIN
The initial indictment dated July 8, 2024 opened a judicial investigation. Investigating judges have entrusted the continuation of the investigations to C3 (cyber unit of the National Gendarmerie) and ONAF (National Customs Anti-Fraud Office)
ENT BECKAU,
Prosecutor of the Republic
“ВЧК ОГПУ”
