BAKU, Azerbaijan, September
23. Martin Ryan, who was accused of espionage for
France, has been pardoned.
This was reflected in the decree signed by the President of the Republic of
Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, regarding the pardon of a number of
convicted individuals.
Martin Ryan, a citizen of France, was sentenced to 10 years’
imprisonment by the Baku Grave Crimes Court under its judgment
dated 16 March 2026.
According to the indictment, reasonable suspicions were
established that Martin Ryan had received assignments to obtain
information, and had been active in these areas, concerning:
weapons and ammunition produced in the Republic of Azerbaijan; the
equipping of the Azerbaijani Army during the 44-day Patriotic War
of 2020; persons serving in the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan or
discharged into the reserve who could potentially be recruited;
persons who had received education in French abroad; foreign
citizens and legal entities operating in Azerbaijan; opportunities
for organising secret money transfers from Azerbaijan to other
countries on the instructions of the French special services;
relations and ties between Azerbaijan and the United Kingdom,
Algeria, Türkiye, Pakistan, Iran, China, Somalia, the states of
Central Asia and other countries; plans for military cooperation;
and weapons and ammunition imported into Azerbaijan.
The accused persons were detained by the State Security Service
on 4 December 2023. Martin Ryan, who was the general director of
Merkorama LLC, was charged with espionage. According to the charge,
he was used as an agent-spy by employees of France’s DGSE (General
Directorate for External Security) who had recruited him for secret
cooperation and who were later declared persona non grata and
expelled from Baku. In the same criminal case, Martin Ryan was
charged under Article 276 (espionage) of the Criminal Code of the
Republic of Azerbaijan, while Azerbaijani citizen Azad Mammadli was
charged under Article 274 (high treason).
