Tuesday 24 Mar 2026
A courthouse during the trial of former Nagorno-Karabakh officials accused of genocide and war crimes in Baku, Azerbaijan, January 17, 2025. (Photo/Reuters)
A court in Azerbaijan has sentenced French national Martin Ryan to ten years in prison on espionage charges. Ryan, arrested in December 2023, was found guilty of gathering intelligence regarding Azerbaijan’s military collaboration with Turkey and Pakistan. Furthermore, the court accused him of attempting to recruit locals for French intelligence services. While Ryan pleaded partially guilty, the sentencing comes during a period of complex diplomatic relations between Baku and Paris. Although both nations have expressed intent to normalize ties, this conviction serves as a significant point of contention affecting their bilateral cooperation efforts.
A court in Azerbaijan sentenced a French citizen to ten years in prison on Monday after finding him guilty of spying on behalf of Paris, Russian state news agency RIA reported.
Baku accuses the man, Martin Ryan, who was arrested in December 2023, of collecting secret information about its military cooperation with Türkiye and Pakistan.
It also said he was helping to recruit French-speaking Azerbaijanis to cooperate with French intelligence.
Ryan pleaded partially guilty to the charge.
Earlier this month, French President Emmanuel Macron and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev spoke by phone and discussed revitalising bilateral relations and prospects for cooperation, according to Aliyev's office.
In October, Aliyev said that "past misunderstandings between the two countries have been resolved" after meeting Macron in Copenhagen.
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Source: TRT
