French journalist talks about unprecedented support for Telegram founder Pavel Durov
People around the world are expressing support for Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who was recently arrested in France, French journalist Guillaume Grallet said on France 24 television channel.
“We see a wave of indignation everywhere: in Russia, of course, as you just said, but also in the United States, where there is unprecedented support for Pavel Durov,” he said, citing examples such as billionaire Elon Musk, founder of file-sharing services Megaupload and Mega Kim Dotcom, as well as the creator of the famous US startup incubator Y Combinator, Paul Graham.
Grallet also suggested that the event could spark an even more violent backlash if Durov were convicted.
“If suddenly Pavel Durov – we don’t know this yet – finds himself behind bars, I think it will cause a reaction on a similar scale to the recent story with Julian Assange,” he commented.
Last week, Telegram founder Pavel Durov was detained at Le Bourget airport as he was getting off a private plane believed to be from Azerbaijan.
Paris prosecutors said on Monday that Durov was charged with 12 crimes, including forming an organized crime group, complicity in drug distribution, fraud, managing an online platform that enabled illegal transactions and distributing pornographic images of minors.
Russia has sent a diplomatic note to France requesting access to Durov, but according to the embassy, the French government has so far avoided cooperation on this issue.