Support The Moscow Times!

Human Rights Law Firm to Defend Telegram in Government Encryption Row

Pavel Durov (TechCrunch / Flickr (CC BY 2.0))

A human rights group has agreed to represent Pavel Durov, founder of the popular messaging app Telegram, in his legal battle with government regulations that require his company to hand over encryption keys to some users’ communications.

A Moscow court on Monday fined Telegram 800,000 rubles ($14,000) for refusing to give security services decoding data targeting six phone numbers.

Pavel Chikov, head of Agora, a law firm which publishes an annual report on Internet freedom, has defended high-profile activists and independent journalists including Oleg Kashin and Pussy Riot's Yekaterina Samutsevich.

"I am confident that Pavel's team can successfully represent Telegram in Russian courts, defending the right of Russians to the privacy of their personal correspondence," Durov wrote on social media.

Durov said he had received 200 offers, including from famous lawyers who were prepared to defend Telegram pro bono.

"The case of Telegram is not Pavel Durov's case, it's the case of hundreds of millions of program users and is a principle issue of the protection of privacy of correspondence in the digital age," Chikov told the Interfax news agency.

… we have a small favor to ask.

As you may have heard, The Moscow Times, an independent news source for over 30 years, has been unjustly branded as a "foreign agent" by the Russian government. This blatant attempt to silence our voice is a direct assault on the integrity of journalism and the values we hold dear.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. Our commitment to providing accurate and unbiased reporting on Russia remains unshaken. But we need your help to continue our critical mission.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just 2. It's quick to set up, and you can be confident that you're making a significant impact every month by supporting open, independent journalism. Thank you.

Continue

Read more