An Azerbaijani court on Monday handed Martin Ryan, a French national, a 10-year prison sentence after finding him guilty of gathering classified information about Baku’s military cooperation with Turkey and Pakistan. Prosecutors also accused him of working with employees of France’s security services who were allegedly operating out of the French embassy in Baku.
Ryan admitted to some of the accusations but denied others. His co-defendant, Azerbaijani citizen Azad Mamedli, was sentenced to 12 years on treason charges. Authorities say Ryan recruited Mamedli and arranged meetings between him and French intelligence personnel.
In court Ryan acknowledged contacts with embassy staff but maintained he did not knowingly engage in espionage. He said his culpability was limited to having made inappropriate contacts and failing to inform the proper authorities, insisting, in effect, that he was not a spy.
The case unfolded against a backdrop of strained ties between Paris and Baku that have eased somewhat since reaching heightened levels. The investigation and the diplomatic friction trace back to the 44-day Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020, when France was highly critical of Azerbaijan and took a pro-Armenian stance—a posture viewed by some as an attempt to counter Turkish and Russian influence in the South Caucasus. France also hosts a large Armenian diaspora.
Human-rights groups, including Amnesty International, have accused both Azerbaijan and Armenia of committing abuses against civilians during the conflict. In recent years Azerbaijan has stayed relatively close to Russia amid Moscow’s war in Ukraine, while France has backed Kyiv. Armenia has traditionally been allied with Russia, though that relationship has cooled.
In September 2023 Azerbaijan launched a swift offensive that brought the entire territory of Nagorno-Karabakh—internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but long governed by ethnic Armenian authorities—back under Baku’s control, triggering the near-total exodus of the region’s ethnic Armenian population.
Edited by Saim Dušan Inayatullah