A trial was held in the criminal case conducted by the State Security Service of Azerbaijan against Martin Ryan, who was arrested on charges of espionage for France, and Azad Mammadli, who was accused of treason.
According to Report, the accused testified in the trial held at the Baku Grave Crimes Court, chaired by Judge Elmin Rustamov.
The accused, Martin Ryan, said his goal as a businessman was to establish contact with his country's embassy in Azerbaijan:
"As a French citizen, I considered it important to establish contact with the embassy of my country in Azerbaijan. For this purpose, I had established a personal relationship with the embassy staff. During my conversation with Frederic Devos, I realized that he was a potential spy. I did not meet them often. My goal was not to be recruited as an agent, I was simply trying to establish contact with my country's representative office here. I did not establish acquaintances with them in exchange for money. If I had reported my contact with the French embassy to the Azerbaijani agencies, my country would have considered it a betrayal. Also, I did not have sufficient evidence that they were agents. I think I should have reported their behavior towards us to my own Ministry of Foreign Affairs."
According to Martin Ryan, they met more often with embassy staff during the 44-day war between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
"I asked if my meeting with them would pose any danger. I saw them not as employees of the secret services, but as diplomats accredited to Azerbaijan from France. I suspected that we were being followed. I did not tell Azad about this. Laurent also had a personal relationship with Azad. When he met with Frederic, he also asked about Azad. He even once jokingly told me that Azad was passing on information about Russia," Ryan said.
Azad Mammadli, who was accused in the trial, also testified. He stated that he was not involved in anti-Azerbaijani activities:
"The French embassy staff offered me confidential cooperation, but I refused. While I was in Britain, I had a telephone conversation with Martin. This telephone conversation is also included in the indictment. I am being charged based on this. Another charge brought against me was related to transmitting information about Azerbaijan-Iran, Azerbaijan-Armenia relations. My opinions about these relations were subjective opinions as an ordinary citizen. There was no confidentiality here."
According to Azad Mammadli, Martin Ryan told the preliminary investigation that he had passed information about Russia to Frederic Devos:
"This information is false. I introduced my friend A.Sh., who lives in Russia, to Martin as a friend. Martin falsely said that I allegedly passed on information about A.Sh. A.Sh. has nothing to do with this case. Also, one of the accusations made against me was my views on the Zangazur corridor to be opened in Armenia. I was Martin's guest when I came to Baku in 2023. At that time, I told him my subjective views about the corridor in question. I told him that if this corridor were opened, I would like to have European troops here, not Russian."
Azad Mammadli added that Frederic Devos asked him questions about the Eurasian Union event held in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan:
"I answered him no. Azerbaijan is not a member of this union, but because of that, I am accused of treason. Martin passed all my information to Frederic without my knowledge. Having familiarized myself with the materials of the criminal case, I saw that Martin Ryan passed about 50 pieces of information about Azerbaijan's defense capabilities during the 44-day war. He also recruited nine Azerbaijani citizens to work for French intelligence. I also fell into his trap and became a victim. My mistake is that when employees of the French Foreign Ministry contacted me, I did not inform the relevant bodies of Azerbaijan."
After both defendants testified, the judge said there were stark contradictions in their statements. Therefore, he said the next trial would be held as question-and-answer sessions.
The trial will continue on May 19.
Martin Ryan and others were arrested on December 4, 2023. Martin Ryan, the CEO of Merkorama LLC, was charged with espionage.
According to the charges, Martin Ryan was used as an agent-spy by employees of the French General Directorate for External Security (DGSE), who recruited him for secret cooperation and were later declared persona non grata and expelled from Baku.
Along with Martin Ryan, Azad Mammadli, a citizen of the Republic of Azerbaijan, is charged with “high treason” in the same criminal case.
On December 20, 2023, after the exposure of a large spy network and professional failures, DGSE head Bernard Emie was dismissed from his post.