By Andrea Hargraves 
Former US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden on Sunday condemned the arrest of Pavel Durov, founder of the encrypted messaging network Telegram, in France.
“Durov's arrest is an attack on the fundamental human rights of freedom of expression and association,” he wrote on the social network X.
Snowden added: “I was shocked and deeply saddened by this. [o Presidente francês, Emmanuel] Macron has descended to the level of hostage-taking as a means of accessing private messages.”.
In Edward Snowden's opinion, Durov's arrest “undermines dignity” Not only from France, but from all over the world.
Snowden, who also condemned the detention of Belarusian opposition journalist Roman Protasovich in Minsk, whose authorities were forced to ground the Ryanair plane he was travelling on from Athens to Vilnius, He rarely makes public statements.
The former US analyst has been living in Russia since revealing details of US spy programs in 2013. After being granted citizenship in September 2022.
Durov was arrested on Saturday night as he stepped off his private plane on the tarmac at Paris-Le Bourget airport, arriving from Azerbaijan.
39-year-old French-Russian millionaire He was the subject of a French arrest warrant issued by the National Directorate of Criminal Investigation.based on a preliminary investigation.
The French court says Telegram's lack of moderation and Durov's failure to cooperate with authorities, along with the tools the platform provides, such as disposable numbers and encryption, Making him an accomplice to crimes such as drug trafficking, paedophilia and fraud.