France Issues Arrest Warrant for CEO Brother of Telegram Co-Founder

Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram
Photo by Yonhap News

French investigative authorities who arrested Telegram founder Pavel Durov have also issued an arrest warrant for his brother and Telegram co-founder Nikolai Durov.

According to a report by the European edition of the American political media outlet Politico on the 28th (local time), French authorities issued arrest warrants for Pavel and Nikolai on March 25 of this year.

This indicates that the investigation into Telegram by France began several months earlier and was conducted extensively than previously known. Earlier, French media reported that the investigation into Telegram started in July.

Pavel was arrested immediately after arriving in Paris from Azerbaijan on a private jet on the 24th. However, Politico reported that Nikolai's whereabouts remain unknown. According to documents provided by an investigation source, the arrest warrants for the Durov brothers were issued on charges including "conspiracy to possess, distribute, provide, and produce images of child pornography involving minors within an organized group."

The cybercrime division of the Paris Prosecutor's Office, while investigating a case where minor girls were lured to send "self-produced child pornography" and then threatened to have it exposed on social media, requested Telegram to disclose the identities of suspects. However, Telegram did not respond, and subsequently, arrest warrants were issued.

When requesting the warrants, the prosecution emphasized that "numerous criminal groups" are using Telegram. However, Politico reported that there was no evidence that the Durov brothers were directly involved in illegal activities.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.