French national accused of espionage allegedly recruited 9 Azerbaijanis

A Baku court heard testimony in the espionage case against French citizen Martin Ryan and Azad Mammadli, who is charged with treason.

According to Mammadli, Ryan passed around 50 pieces of sensitive defense information to French intelligence during the 2020 Karabakh war and recruited nine Azerbaijani nationals.

Ryan claimed he sought only to build ties with France’s embassy and was unaware of dealing with intelligence officers. Mammadli said he rejected offers of secret cooperation and that his personal conversations with Ryan were misinterpreted.

The court noted contradictions in their testimonies. The next hearing is scheduled for May 19.

N.Tebrizli