Azerbaijan pardons Frenchman Martin Ryan after EU lifts sanctions on Russian billionaire Usmanov
Reuters. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev pardoned a French national imprisoned for espionage on Wednesday (September 23), a day after the EU lifted sanctions on Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov following what diplomats said was pressure from Baku.
The Frenchman, Martin Ryan, had been serving a ten-year prison sentence in Baku following a conviction in March.
Three European diplomats told Reuters that Paris had indicated in private that Baku was using Usmanov to pressure it over the case of two French citizens held in Azerbaijan, an assertion rejected by Baku.
