French President Emmanuel Macron said on August 29 that he stands fully behind the decision to grant citizenship to Pavel Durov, a day after the Telegram co-founder and CEO was indicted in Paris on charges of failing to control illegal content on the popular messaging app.
Macron, speaking in Belgrade at the start of a two-day state visit, said granting Durov citizenship was part of a strategy to enable star athletes, performers, and other foreigners who learned French to become French citizens.
“I granted citizenship to Durov, who learned French, just as I did for some athletes and artists, and I think that's something good for our country. I will continue to do that every time,” Macron said.
Durov, 39, was detained at Le Bourget airport outside Paris over the weekend and he was charged on August 28 with several crimes related to alleged illicit activity on the messaging app.
French prosecutors accuse Durov of complicity in allowing drug trafficking and the sharing of sexual images of children on Telegram, and of refusing to share documents demanded by authorities investigating illegal activity on the app.
SEE ALSO: Explainer: The Dark Side Of TelegramThe Russian-born Durov, who also has citizenship in Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and the Caribbean archipelago of St. Kitts and Nevis, was granted conditional release on a bail of 5 million euros ($5.5 million) and on the condition that he report to a police station twice a week as well as remain in France, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.
The French president said he didn’t know Durov was coming to France and that he didn’t invite him to visit.
“I don't know anything more about it, and it's normal that I don't know because we are a state governed by the rule of law, where state institutions are independent," Macron said at a press conference in Belgrade after meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
The question arose after French media reports said that Durov told police upon his arrest on August 24 that he was planning to meet with Macron.
Durov's lawyer said it was "absurd" to suggest his client could be implicated in any crime committed on the app.
"Telegram complies in all respects with European rules concerning digital technology," lawyer David-Olivier Kaminski said.
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned France against turning the case into "political persecution," emphasizing that Durov is a "Russian citizen" and "we will be watching what happens next."
That is likely to be that the case will be sent to trial. The charge of "complicity in the administration of an online platform to enable an illicit transaction" alone carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years and a fine of 500,000 euros ($550,000).