Aliyev pardoned French businessman Ryan the day after sanctions on Usmanov were lifted

The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, signed a decree pardoning 20 people, among whom was 38-year-old French entrepreneur Martin Ryan, who had been serving a ten-year sentence on espionage charges. Ryan's release came the day after the EU Council removed Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov from the sanctions list. This is reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing a publication by the French newspaper Le Monde.

Timeline of the Ryan case

Martin Ryan, who had lived in Azerbaijan for about four years, was detained in Baku in December 2023 against the backdrop of a sharp deterioration in relations between Paris and Baku. He was charged with espionage in favor of France. In March 2026, a court in Baku sentenced the businessman to ten years in prison. In July 2026, the appellate instance upheld the decision. The French side consistently rejected the charges and called Ryan's detention arbitrary.

Connection to the sanctions issue

According to Le Monde, the Ryan case was at the center of negotiations over the extension of EU sanctions against Russia. As European diplomats reported, Paris linked the lifting of restrictions on Usmanov to the fate of French citizens held in custody in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan, for its part, publicly denied any pressure being exerted within the framework of this issue. Notably, a second French citizen, also held in Azerbaijani prisons, was not included in Aliyev's pardon decree, which underscores the selective nature of the decision.

Contradictory data

There is a discrepancy in open sources regarding the interpretation of the reasons for the pardon. On the one hand, Le Monde and a number of European diplomats point to a direct link between Ryan's release and the lifting of sanctions on Usmanov, describing this as an element of bargaining between Paris and Baku. On the other hand, official Baku categorically denies that the question of releasing French citizens was discussed in the context of EU sanctions policy, insisting that the pardon is an exclusively internal matter of the Azerbaijani state. In addition, Ukrainian authorities called the EU's decision not to extend sanctions against Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman "very strange," stating their intention to offer European partners alternative pressure tools. Thus, Baku's public rhetoric and the factual sequence of events create a contradictory picture of the motives.

Reaction and context

The decision to pardon 20 people, among whom Ryan was the only French citizen, was formalized by a presidential decree. For the French side, Ryan's release became a significant diplomatic step; however, the incompleteness of the list — the absence of the second French prisoner — leaves the question open. Kyiv, in turn, intends to offer European partners alternative mechanisms of pressure on Russian oligarchs whose sanctions were lifted or not extended, which may affect the further dynamics of relations between the EU and Azerbaijan on the sanctions track.