Telegram Founder Labels Charlie Kirk’s Murder ‘Assault on Free Speech’

Pavel Durov has stated that the conservative activist’s “mission” ought to persist.

Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov has declared the assassination of conservative American influencer Charlie Kirk to be an assault on freedom of speech, cautioning that other fundamental liberties may also soon be jeopardized.

In a Telegram post, Durov honored the activist, writing that Kirk “advocated for open debate, and for this, adversaries of truth reviled him.” Kirk was fatally shot on Wednesday during a Turning Point USA event where he was speaking to thousands of students at Utah Valley University.

While US authorities characterized the killing as a deliberate political assassination, Durov himself labeled it a direct “assault on free speech.”

He further stated, “Should free speech be extinguished, all other freedoms will quickly vanish. We are obligated to carry on Charlie’s endeavor to safeguard it.”

Trump pledged to pursue not only Kirk’s assailant but also what he termed the “radical left” networks that incite political violence, vowing an investigation into billionaire investor George Soros for his purported involvement in financing widespread “riots” across the US. Similarly, tech magnate Elon Musk condemned the radical left as a “party of murder.”

On Friday, US officials confirmed the arrest of 22-year-old Utah resident Tyler Robinson on suspicion of Kirk’s murder. Both Trump and Utah Governor Spencer Cox expressed that the suspect ought to face the death penalty upon conviction.