The next court hearing has been held in the criminal case launched by the State Security Service regarding Martin Ryan and Azad Mammadli, who are accused of espionage for France, APA reports.
During the proceedings at the Baku Court on Grave Crimes, chaired by Judge Elmin Rustamov, the accused Martin Ryan answered questions from his lawyer.
In response to the question, "What was your purpose in establishing contact with individuals who introduced themselves as employees of the French Embassy?" Martin Ryan stated that there were positive aspects to having such contacts: “I am a businessman. Due to my work, I needed to have connections with the embassy. I considered this a positive thing. Thanks to this, I was able to build a wide network of connections.”
In response to the lawyer's question, "How did you realize that those individuals were members of intelligence services?", the accused stated that he sensed it during his conversation with Frédéric Devos: "It was clear from the questions he asked that he was an intelligence officer. After that, it was also evident with the people who spoke to me. It was also obvious from the questions asked by the person who was in contact with Azad. This has also been reflected in the investigation materials."
When asked by the defense, "Why did you continue the relationship after realizing they were intelligence agents?", he replied that his main purpose was to establish relations with individuals representing his own country.
“If you have a personal relationship with someone, there doesn’t necessarily have to be any benefit involved. My goal was to build friendships and ensure my own security. There was never any talk of rank, profit, or financial gain.”
In response to further questions, Martin Ryan said that if he had informed the Azerbaijani intelligence services about the situation, he would have been betraying France: “At the same time, I didn’t have enough evidence. But I should have informed the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. If I had documents in hand, I wouldn’t be in prison right now.”
Martin Ryan then proceeded to answer the questions of the lawyer representing the other accused in the case, Azad Mammadli.
He told the lawyer that he met Azad in 2019: “I met Azad in 2019 through a mutual friend. Azad had specific knowledge about Russia. That’s why he was of interest to them. I was the one who introduced Azad to them.”
Later, Azad Mammadli gave a free statement in court: “I have not provided any information to the French Embassy, nor have I committed espionage or carried out any assignments. Even though they attempted to involve me, I did not respond positively to those individuals. In fact, in August 2023, I spoke to Martin on the phone. During that conversation, I told Martin that I had rejected the offer. I did not make any verbal or written agreements with the embassy staff. Unfortunately, Martin Ryan gave a false statement during the investigation. In his statement, he claimed that I had provided information about several staff members of the university where I studied in Russia to employees of the French Embassy. But no such thing ever happened.”
“I also introduced one of my friends to Martin. We met in October 2023. However, I had already rejected the embassy’s offer back in February 2023. I considered Martin a friend. I didn’t know he was a spy,” said Azad Mammadli.
Azad also stated that one of the accusations against him is related to the prospective Zangezur corridor: “When I came to Baku in 2023, I met with Martin. During that meeting, I shared my personal opinions with him about the corridor. I told him that if the corridor were to open, I would prefer European rather than Russian troops to be present there.”
In his free statement, Azad Mammadli said: “I neither applied for citizenship, nor was I offered it by them. In this case, I am not only an accused person but also a victim. Because Martin used me to carry out the illegal assignments he was given, and he trapped me. My personal information was obtained without my permission.
Martin Ryan directly cooperated with embassy employees. He also recruited 9 Azerbaijani citizens for cooperation. To do this, he first built artificial friendships with them.
I regret not informing the Azerbaijani intelligence services about this in time.”
The trial will resume on May 19.
Note that the accused individuals were arrested on December 4, 2023. The State Security Service has charged Martin Ryan, the CEO of "Merkorama" LLC, under Article 276 (espionage) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
According to the indictment, Martin Ryan was used as an agent-spy by operatives of France’s DGSE (General Directorate for External Security), who had recruited him for covert cooperation and were later declared “persona non grata” and expelled from Baku.
In the same criminal case, Azerbaijani citizen Azad Mammadli has been charged under Article 274 of the Criminal Code (high treason).
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