Key facts
- Azerbaijan pardoned a French national, Martin Ryan, who was imprisoned for espionage.
- The pardon occurred on Wednesday, a day after the EU lifted sanctions on Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov.
- Ryan was serving a 10-year sentence for spying convictions from March.
- French officials privately indicated Baku used Usmanov's sanctions case to pressure France over two French citizens held in Azerbaijan.
- The second French national, Anass Derraz, an employee of Saur, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2025 on corruption charges and was not pardoned.
- Ryan was arrested in December 2023 and accused of gathering secret information about Azerbaijan's military cooperation with Turkey and Pakistan.
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev pardoned a French national imprisoned for espionage on Wednesday, a day after the European Union lifted sanctions on Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov. The move followed reports that Baku had pressured Paris over the sanctions case, linking it to two French citizens held in Azerbaijan.
The Frenchman, Martin Ryan, had been serving a 10-year prison sentence in Baku following a spying conviction in March. Three European diplomats told Reuters that Paris had privately indicated that Baku was using Usmanov's sanctions case to pressure France over two French citizens held in Azerbaijan. French weekly Challenges identified the second jailed French national as Anass Derraz, an employee of French water management company Saur, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2025 on corruption charges and was not among those pardoned on Wednesday.
A senior Azerbaijani diplomat rejected allegations of a pressure campaign as "categorically unfounded," stating that Baku had openly supported Usmanov's removal from Western sanctions lists but denied any attempt to influence Western decision-making. Relations between Baku and Paris have long been strained over France's close ties to Armenia, Azerbaijan's neighbor and rival.
The delisting of Usmanov and fellow Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman marked the first time the EU removed sanctions on members of Russia's billionaire elite who had not publicly condemned the war in Ukraine. The decision exposed divisions among EU governments. The EU had imposed sanctions on Fridman and Usmanov in 2022, including travel and transaction bans and asset freezes within the bloc.
Ryan was arrested in December 2023 and accused of gathering secret information about Azerbaijan's military cooperation with Turkey and Pakistan. Baku had also accused him of helping to recruit French-speaking Azerbaijanis to cooperate with French intelligence. Before his arrest, Ryan worked in Azerbaijan for a food-import company that also provided consultancy services. According to Aliyev's office, Ryan was pardoned alongside 14 Azerbaijani citizens, two Turkish nationals, one dual Russian-Israeli citizen, and one Pakistani citizen.