France could be involved in Charlie Kirk murder – Telegram founder

The Russian tech entrepreneur was commenting on right-wing commentator Candace Owens’ claims that Kirk’s assassin “trained with the French Legion 13th Brigade with multi-state involvement.”  The suspect, 22-year-old Tyler James Robinson, has been formally charged with aggravated murder and related counts in Kirk’s killing and is being held without bail as prosecutors indicate they may seek the death penalty.

In the same X post, shared on Friday, Owens said she had been warned by a high-ranking official that French President Emmanuel Macron had “authorized professional units” to carry out her assassination.

“After reviewing everything Charlie Kirk has ever said about Macron’s France, I find Candace’s info about French involvement in his death entirely plausible,” Durov wrote on X on Sunday, sharing Owens’s post.

Durov, who was detained at the Paris airport last year over crimes linked to Telegram users, has been consistently critical of the French authorities, accusing them of embarking on a “crusade” against free speech. The tech billionaire, who holds French citizenship, maintains that his arrest over offenses committed by the platform’s users is “legally and logically absurd.”

In his message, Durov noted that Kirk “called for 300% tariffs on France” until the charges against him were dropped, linking to a post in which the activist accused Europe of targeting “CEOs of platforms where free speech thrives.” That message, written shortly before the founder of the conservative organization Turning Point USA was fatally shot on a university campus in Utah on September 10, argued that France should face “stiff and painful consequences” for Durov’s arrest.

The Telegram founder has claimed that during his detention he was asked by the head of the French secret service to censor conservative voices in Romania ahead of a controversial presidential election later nullified by the country’s Constitutional Court. Last month, Durov accused the French authorities of promoting surveillance in the name of law enforcement.

The tech billionaire, whose company operates from Dubai, was initially barred from leaving France during the investigation, but the travel ban was fully lifted earlier this month.