Azerbaijan pardons French national Martin Ryan jailed on spy charges

The move comes after the EU lifts sanctions on oligarchs following what diplomats described as pressure from Baku.

French national Martin Ryan (centre) during a 2025 court hearing for his trial on spy charges in Baku, Azerbaijan [File: AFP]

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has pardoned Martin Ryan, a French national who was serving a 10-year prison sentence on spying charges.

The move on Wednesday came a day after the European Union lifted sanctions on Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov following what diplomats described as pressure exerted by Baku.

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Ryan, who was arrested in 2023 and sentenced in March, was among 20 people pardoned by Aliyev’s office, alongside Azerbaijani, Turkish, Russian-Israeli and Pakistani nationals, Reuters news agency reported.

Aliyev’s website said the president took into account their “personalities, state of health, family circumstances” and other reasons in deciding to grant pardons.

France welcomed “with relief the decision to grant clemency” to Ryan, calling it “a humanitarian gesture”, according to a French Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement. “This decision is the result of patient and exacting dialogue with the Azerbaijani authorities.”

It remained unclear whether Ryan had been released.

Prosecutors alleged Ryan gathered information on Azerbaijan’s military ties with Turkiye, Iran and Pakistan, as well as on companies linked to Russia and China.

Ryan, who also holds British citizenship, denied the charges. France said the allegations against him were false and had called for his immediate release, arguing he had been caught in the crossfire of diplomatic tensions.

The delisting of Usmanov ⁠and fellow Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman was the first time the EU removed sanctions on the wealthiest members of Russia’s billionaire elite who had not publicly condemned the war on Ukraine.

Usmanov, who once held a minority stake ⁠in Arsenal football club, graduated from the same prestigious diplomatic school in Moscow as the presidents of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan and knows them personally.

European diplomats told Reuters and AFP news agencies that France had privately indicated Baku was using Usmanov’s sanctions status to pressure Paris over its detained citizens.

A second Frenchman, Anass Derraz, an employee of the French water company Saur who was sentenced to 12 years on corruption charges, was not included in the pardons.

An Azerbaijani diplomat rejected suggestions of a pressure campaign as “categorically unfounded”.

French national Martin Ryan (centre) during a January 6, 2025 court hearing in Baku, where he received a 10-year sentence for spying before being pardoned [AFP]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the move reflected Russian efforts “to break the West’s unity”, while his Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, said Moscow was “celebrating, because it got what it wanted: a sense of impunity, the humiliation of the EU, and division among Europeans”.

Latvia abstained from the vote and said it would impose its own sanctions on the two men, with Foreign Minister Baiba Braze calling the EU decision “dangerous”.

Slovakia initially called for Usmanov’s removal, with France later backing the move.

Relations between Baku and Paris have long been strained by France’s support for Armenia, even as ties between Moscow and Baku have also deteriorated since the accidental downing of an Azerbaijani passenger jet by Russian forces in December 2024.

此前，欧盟在外交官们所说的来自巴库的压力下，解除了对寡头的制裁。

法国公民马丁·瑞安（中）在阿塞拜疆巴库出席2025年间谍罪审判的法庭听证会。[图片：法新社]

阿塞拜疆总统伊利哈姆·阿利耶夫赦免了法国公民马丁·瑞安，他此前因间谍罪被判处 10 年监禁。

周三的这一举动，是在欧盟解除对俄罗斯亿万富翁阿利舍尔·乌斯马诺夫的制裁一天后发生的，外交官们称这是巴库施加的压力所致。

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据路透社报道，瑞安于 2023 年被捕，并于 3 月被判刑。他是阿利耶夫办公室赦免的 20 人之一，其他赦免者包括阿塞拜疆人、土耳其人、俄罗斯-以色列公民和巴基斯坦公民。

阿利耶夫的网站称，总统在决定赦免时考虑了他们的“性格、健康状况、家庭情况”和其他原因。

法国外交部发表声明称，法国“欣慰地欢迎”阿塞拜疆当局“赦免瑞安的决定”，称其为“人道主义姿态”。声明还表示，“这一决定是与阿塞拜疆当局进行耐心而深入对话的结果。”

目前尚不清楚瑞恩是否已被释放。

检方指控瑞安收集了有关阿塞拜疆与土耳其、伊朗和巴基斯坦的军事联系，以及与俄罗斯和中国有关联的公司的信息。

拥有英国国籍的瑞安否认了这些指控。法国方面表示，对他的指控不实，并呼吁立即释放他，理由是他被卷入了外交紧张局势的漩涡之中。

欧盟将乌斯马诺夫和另一位俄罗斯亿万富翁米哈伊尔·弗里德曼从制裁名单中移除，这是欧盟首次解除对俄罗斯亿万富翁精英中最富有成员的制裁，而这些成员此前并未公开谴责对乌克兰的战争。

乌斯马诺夫曾持有阿森纳足球俱乐部的少数股份，他与阿塞拜疆和哈萨克斯坦总统毕业于莫斯科同一所著名的外交学院，并且与他们私交甚笃。

欧洲外交官告诉路透社和法新社，法国私下表示，巴库正在利用乌斯马诺夫的制裁地位向巴黎施压，要求其就法国公民被拘留一事进行谈判。

第二名法国人阿纳斯·德拉兹（Anass Derraz）是法国水务公司 Saur 的一名员工，他因腐败指控被判处 12 年监禁，但未被列入赦免名单。

一位阿塞拜疆外交官驳斥了有关施压行动的说法，称其“完全没有根据”。

法国公民马丁·瑞安（中）于 2025 年 1 月 6 日在巴库出庭受审，他因间谍罪被判处 10 年监禁，后被赦免。[法新社]

乌克兰总统泽连斯基表示，此举反映了俄罗斯“破坏西方团结”的努力，而他的外交部长安德烈·西比哈则表示，莫斯科“正在庆祝，因为它得到了它想要的：一种不受惩罚的感觉，欧盟的羞辱，以及欧洲人之间的分裂”。

拉脱维亚在投票中投了弃权票，并表示将对这两名男子实施制裁。外交部长拜巴·布拉泽称欧盟的决定“危险”。

斯洛伐克最初呼吁撤换乌斯马诺夫，法国后来也支持这一举动。

由于法国支持亚美尼亚，巴库和巴黎之间的关系长期以来一直很紧张；与此同时，自 2024 年 12 月俄罗斯军队意外击落一架阿塞拜疆客机以来，莫斯科和巴库之间的关系也恶化了。