France on Thursday issued a preliminary indictment against Telegram CEO Pavel Durov for allegedly enabling criminal activity through the popular messaging app, and banned him from leaving the country pending further investigation.
Durov was detained at Le Bourget airport last Saturday as part of a judicial investigation launched last month into 12 alleged criminal offences, and was released on Wednesday after four days of questioning.
The charges against Durov, a Russian-born French citizen, include selling child pornography, drug trafficking, fraud, facilitating money transfers related to organised crime and refusing to provide information or documents to investigators in accordance with the law.
Durov holds Russian, French and Emirati citizenship, as well as citizenship of St Kitts and Nevis.