(MENAFN) France has annulled a travel restriction on Telegram founder Pavel Durov, according to reports from media outlets on Thursday citing judicial sources.

Durov was taken into custody in Paris last year and faced charges of complicity in crimes associated with Telegram users, including extremism and child exploitation – accusations that the tech entrepreneur refuted.

He asserted that during his detention, the head of the French secret service requested that he suppress conservative voices in Romania ahead of a contentious presidential election later invalidated by Bucharest.

He was released on €5 million ($5.4 million) bail under judicial oversight.

A judge prohibited him from leaving France while the investigation continued.

The most recent decision, reportedly issued on November 10, completely lifts the travel restriction and eliminates the requirement for him to report regularly to law enforcement. In June, he had secured a partial relaxation of the limitations, allowing him to stay in the United Arab Emirates, where Telegram is headquartered, for up to two weeks at a time.

Earlier this year, Durov argued that detaining a CEO of a major platform over offenses committed by the platform’s users was “legally and logically absurd.”

“A year later, the ‘criminal investigation’ against me is still struggling to find anything that I or Telegram did wrong,” he wrote in August, emphasizing that Telegram’s content moderation follows industry norms and that the company has adhered to all legally binding requests from French authorities.

The 41-year-old Russian-born businessman also holds French citizenship and has consistently rejected the allegations, labeling them politically motivated.

He accused French officials of pursuing “a crusade” against freedom of expression.

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