Azerbaijan pardons French national jailed for espionage

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday pardoned French national Martin Ryan, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage earlier this year by the Baku Court on Grave Crimes, citing health and family circumstances in a presidential decree, local media reported.

Ryan was convicted in March on espionage charges and was among several prisoners granted clemency in the decree, which said that Aliyev took into account the "personalities, health and family circumstances of the convicts," among other considerations, according to APA news agency.

French reaction

In July, the French Foreign Ministry issued a strong condemnation of the sentence, denying the validity of the charges and calling for Ryan's immediate release. The ministry had rejected the allegations as baseless and demanded his freedom through diplomatic channels.

Diplomatic sources in Baku indicated that French officials had raised Ryan's case in multiple bilateral meetings since the March conviction. The pardon decree cited humanitarian grounds alongside the legal considerations for the clemency.