A case against Telegram founder Pavel Durov was initiated in France on July 8, as reported by the Paris prosecutor’s office. His detention period expires on August 28. According to the authorities, Mr. Durov faces charges related to 12 offenses.

The press release (.pdf) published on the prosecutor’s website states that Pavel Durov is accused of:

Complicity — managing an online platform to facilitate illegal transactions within an organized group; Refusal to provide information or documents requested by competent authorities; Complicity — possession of pornographic images of minors; Complicity — distributing pornographic images of minors within an organized group; Complicity — purchasing, transporting, storing, and selling narcotics; Complicity — selling or illegally transferring equipment, tools, software, or data designed or adapted to gain access to data processing systems; Complicity — organized fraud; Creating a criminal organization to commit an offense or crime punishable by five or more years of imprisonment; Money laundering of proceeds from crimes or offenses committed within an organized group; Providing cryptography services to ensure confidentiality without certified declaration; Providing cryptographic tools that ensure not only authentication or file integrity monitoring without prior notification; Importing cryptographic tools that provide authentication or file integrity monitoring without prior notification.

The investigation of Pavel Durov’s case is being conducted by the Digital Crime Control Center (C3N) and the National Fraud Office. According to the press release, Mr. Durov has already been questioned by investigators.