Azerbaijan's Aliyev pardons French national convicted of espionage

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree pardoning a number of convicted individuals, including French national Martin Ryan, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage in March.

The presidential decree, published on the official website, said the pardons were granted on humanitarian grounds following appeals from convicted individuals, their families and Azerbaijan’s Ombudsperson.

Factors including health, family circumstances, the nature of the offences, time served and conduct in prison were taken into consideration.

Ryan's espionage conviction

Ryan, the former general director of Merkorama LLC, was detained by Azerbaijan’s State Security Service on 4 December 2023. He was convicted by the Baku Court on Grave Crimes on 16 March 2026 under Article 276 of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code, which covers espionage.

According to the indictment, Ryan was accused of working as an agent for France’s foreign intelligence service, the DGSE, and collecting information on Azerbaijan’s military capabilities, weapons, defence cooperation and potential recruits.

The allegations also included information concerning Azerbaijan’s relations with countries including Türkiye, Pakistan, the UK, Iran and China.

The decree releases Ryan from the unserved portion of his sentence and entered into force on the day it was signed.

This is a developing story.

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