Azerbaijan pardons French businessman Martin Ryan after EU lifts sanctions on Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov

The Azeri leader, Ilham Aliyev, recently granted a full pardon to French businessman Martin Ryan, alongside a further 19 individuals, as reported by various media outlets. Ryan had initially been convicted in March to a ten-year prison term, accused of gathering information about the military during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The timing of Ryan’s release has been seen by many as the result of a mutually beneficial agreement between Baku and Paris. According to the news, France exerted pressure on the European Union to lift sanctions on Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov as a prerequisite for Ryan’s release. On September 22, the EU indeed removed Usmanov from its sanctions list, along with a second Russian businessman, Mikhail Fridman.

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