French prosecutors confirmed that they’re in search of additional info from Swiss authorities concerning the accusations introduced ahead by Irina Bolgar, Durov’s former companion and the mom of his three kids.
The allegations, filed in a Geneva courtroom in March 2023, accuse Durov of harming his youngest son on 5 events between 2021 and 2022, together with an occasion the place he allegedly threatened the kid’s life, reported CNN.
Bolgar, who now resides in Switzerland with their kids, reportedly claimed that Durov has not seen his kids since September 2022 and had reduce off monetary help by blocking the financial institution playing cards he had beforehand supplied, as per experiences.
Bolgar took to Instagram to share her aspect of the story, revealing that regardless of not being married, their kids bear Durov’s final identify and had been formally acknowledged by him.
She defined that their relationship, which started in 2013, had as soon as been family-like, with Durov recurrently visiting her and the kids even after they moved to Switzerland in 2020. Nonetheless, she said that the choice to go public with the allegations got here after her kids questioned why they weren’t talked about on-line like Durov’s different kids. “I made a decision to shed some mild on this info,” Bolgar wrote.
The state of affairs took a dramatic flip when Durov was arrested at Paris’s Bourget Airport on Saturday. The arrest, initially associated to allegations of Telegram’s lack of moderation in combating using the platform by terrorists and far-right extremists, has sparked a debate over freedom of speech. Durov was positioned below formal investigation and launched below judicial supervision with a bail set at 5 million euros. He should stay in France because the investigation continues.
French President Emmanuel Macron, addressing the state of affairs, emphasised that Durov’s arrest was an “impartial motion” taken by the French justice system, unrelated to any deliberate conferences with the entrepreneur. Macron additionally defended the choice to grant Durov French citizenship in 2021, highlighting Durov’s efforts to study the French language as a part of a authorities initiative to naturalize people who contribute globally.
Durov, also known as the “Mark Zuckerberg of Russia,” left his homeland in 2014 and now resides in Dubai, the place Telegram is headquartered. His app, whereas praised for enabling personal communication in oppressive regimes, has additionally confronted criticism for turning into a platform the place illicit actions, together with the planning of the 2015 Paris terror assaults, are coordinated.
