French citizen, Martin Ryan has gone on trial in Azerbaijan on Monday on spying charges that the judge said could lead to a prison sentence of 10 to 15 years.
Azerbaijan is accusing Ryan, who was arrested in December 2023, of gathering secret information about its military cooperation with Turkey and Pakistan, and assisting in recruiting French-speaking Azerbaijanis to cooperate with French intelligence.
Ryan told the court he pleaded “partially guilty”, saying;
“I acknowledge that I carried out the actions attributed to me, but I did so unknowingly and unintentionally. I am prepared to present evidence supporting this during the trial.”
Ryan had been working for a food importing company in Azerbaijan that also offered consulting services.
Prosecutors have allege that he also facilitated contact between French intelligence and Azad Mammadli, –an Azerbaijani citizen who is also on trial and is accused of high treason.
Mammadli, who faces a sentence of 15 years to life imprisonment if convicted, pleaded not guilty at Monday’s hearing.
Since Azerbaijan took back control of the previously Armenian-controlled Nagorno-Karabakh region in September 2023, relations between Azerbaijan and France have worsened sharply.
This may partly be due to the fact that France has a large Armenian diaspora and supplies arms to Armenia.
In November 2023, France’s climate minister cancelled a trip to attend U.N. talks in Baku, and France protested against “unacceptable” remarks, after Azerbaijan accused it of committing “crimes” in its overseas territories.
