Azerbaijan jails Frenchman for a decade in espionage case

BAKU, March 16 (Reuters) - ‌A court ​in ​Azerbaijan sentenced a French citizen to ten years in jail on Monday after finding ‌him guilty of spying on behalf of ⁠Paris, a charge he partially pleaded guilty to, Russia's RIA ‌state news agency reported.

Baku ‌had accused the man, Martin Ryan - who was arrested in December 2023 - of collecting secret information ​about its military cooperation with Turkey and Pakistan. It had also accused him of helping to ⁠recruit French-speaking Azerbaijanis to cooperate with French intelligence.

Prior to his arrest, ​Ryan had been working in Azerbaijan for a food importing company that also offered ​consulting services. Prosecutors alleged he ‌had facilitated contact between French intelligence and Azad Mammadli, an Azerbaijani citizen who ⁠went on trial alongside Ryan and was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Monday.

Mammadli denied any guilt ⁠at the start of the trial.

Ties between Baku and Paris ​have been strained over France's close ties to Armenia, against whom Azerbaijan fought several wars in the last four decades. ‌France has a large Armenian diaspora and supplies arms to Yerevan.

Last May, Azerbaijan ‌pardoned another French citizen, Theo Hugo Clerc, who ⁠had been jailed for ‌three years for ​drawing graffiti in the Baku metro.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy PapachristouEditing by Andrew ‌Osborn)

---

Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!

---

You May Also Be Interested In

• Gunmen kill at least 18 people in Nigeria's Benue state, residents say
• Ferguson to buy FloWorks from Wynnchurch Capital for $1.6 billion
• UK counter-terrorism police investigating former minister Widdecombe's death, minister says